Fargo Man In Custody for His Role in Armed Robbery at Riddle’s Jewelry

25-year-old Victor Velazquez is currently in custody at the Cass County Jail

FARGO, N.D. — Around 9:30 Friday morning, the Fargo Police Department was notified of a robbery where a man came into Riddle’s Jewelry with a handgun, and forced employees to fill garbage bags with jewelry.

“From what we understand, one of those employees possibly had their hands ziptied, and other employees were forced at gunpoint to take the bags of jewelry out to the suspect’s vehicle and put them in the vehicle,” said Chief David Todd of the Fargo Police Department.

From there, the suspect fled down I–29 towards Richland County, then turned around towards Walcott.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Office and the North Dakota Highway Patrol stepped in to stop the suspect from advancing.

“They were able to stop that vehicle, get it to stop at mile marker 42, which is down by the Walcott exit, and took the suspect into custody without incident, he did not resist,” said Chief Todd.

25–year–old Victor Velazquez of Fargo was arrested for armed robbery.

Orlan Rokke has owned a barber shop at Village West since 1974, and he says until today, there hasn’t been too much police activity around his shop.

“We have a police station just north of here, a couple or three blocks, so they come through the parking lot sometimes, but other than that, no,” said Rokke, who owns Barber Stylists Family Haircare in the Village West plaza.

Rokke saw the police cars as he was finishing some haircuts in the plaza near Riddle’s. Once the dust settled,  he was happy to see that the police caught the suspect.

“I’m very relieved that they caught him real quickly, yes, yes, for sure. You hate to have things like that happen,” said Rokke.

But if there’s another armed robbery in Fargo, Chief Todd says his team will be ready.

“Armed robberies are not common of this nature of banks or jewelry stores, so these are certainly high–profile events for the city of Fargo, so we get on those and pursue those as quickly as we can,” said Chief Todd.

Velazquez’s vehicle was impounded and is being searched for jewelry, firearms, and other evidence.