Toronto man sentenced for violent jewelry store robbery
Posted June 4, 2014 4:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Antonio Bandiera was sentenced Wednesday for his part in a scheme to rip off a jewelry store in downtown Toronto three-and-a-half years ago.
Bandiera, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit a fraud and was sentenced to two years less a day to be served in the community.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Robert Shore told the court on Wednesday how he had once trusted and helped the accused whose family is also in the gemology industry.
Shore said Bandiera is personally responsible for what happened to him at his Queen Street West store.
“He set me up,” said Shore, the 58-year-old victim of the violent jewelry store robbery that nearly destroyed his life and business.
After 35 years of hard work in an industry he once loved, Shore now says that his concept of retirement is, “buying a plot.”
Bandiera, along with three other men passed off fraudulent bank drafts in exchange for jewelry at two other businesses. Then, in January 2010, Bandiera set up Shore for the same fraud, introducing him to the client who would end up cleaning him out at gunpoint.
Over a period of time they convinced Shore they wanted to buy a five-carat diamond engagement ring and some earrings.
Bandiera made a legitimate purchase of a $30,000 jewel from Shore, knowing that his co-accused was on his way to his shop with the fake bank drafts.
Instead, the men robbed Shore at gunpoint, duct-taped his mouth and ankles and handcuffed him. They stole the $200,000 ring, loose diamonds valued at $600,000 and the $30,000 Bandiera had just given him.
Because Bandiera was not a participant in the robbery the Crown was asking for three to four years for his part in the complex conspiracy.
The ring is still missing.
One of the co-accused is still before the courts and the other two were already convicted.
