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Beating Of Jewelry Courier Nets Robber 17 Years

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 24, 2008

Updated: 06/24/2008 03:29 pm

TAMPA – A man who robbed and beat a jewelry courier, stealing jewels valued at nearly $350,000, was sentenced this morning to 17 years in federal prison.

William Pava was one of four men who beat and robbed jewelry courier Ming Wang near Kaufman's Jewelers on North Armenia Avenue in October 2006. A federal prosecutor said Pava is thought to be part of a ring that robbed jewelry couriers across the country. Authorities have made no other arrests in the case.

"I regret what I have done," Pava told U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew before he was sentenced. "I understand I have to take responsibility. … My major concern is my two kids. I know I should have thought about my two kids before all the mistakes I made in my life, all the wrong choices I made in my life."

Convicted in March of conspiracy to interfere in commerce by threats or violence, interfering with commerce by threats or violence and brandishing a firearm, Pava today asked the judge for mercy and forgiveness.

Pava, an undocumented immigrant from Colombia, was on probation for another robbery in Georgia, at the time of this offense.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Murphy-Davis told the judge that Pava and his cohorts made their living by robbing people. "He didn't show Mr. Want any mercy the day he robbed him and beat him over the head to get his jewelry."

"There is a need to protect the public," Bucklew said. "You have been somewhat of a menace to the public for a number of years." The judge also ordered Pava to serve five years of probation after his prison sentence is done and to pay $248,000 in restitution.

According to affidavits filed in Pava's case, several witnesses who saw the robbery followed the getaway car. After the robbery, police were called to a CVS drugstore on MacDill Avenue where there was a report of suspicious people.

From reviewing surveillance video and talking to witnesses, investigators determined the robbers met up with people in a second car, changed clothes and moved the jewelry cases to the second vehicle. They removed a temporary license plate from the getaway vehicle and left it behind.

After the robbery was publicized, anonymous witnesses identified Pava and another man, Cesar Mora, who has been indicted in the case but not captured.

Editor's note: A headline on an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the courier was slain.

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