-Edition
Font Resize
Two of three men arrested outside White Jewelers on Tuesday afternoon have been charged, police said, and the third has been released.
All three are from the Washington, D.C., area, according to police, who said it's still not known what they were doing hanging around the York Township store.
The arrests happened less than three months after store owner John White, 57, was shot three times during a 10:30 a.m. July 12 armed robbery.
Just before 11 a.m. Tuesday, someone at White Jewelers called 911 to report three men who appeared to be acting suspiciously in the St. Charles Way Center, the strip mall where the jewelry store is located. It's across South Queen Street from York County School of Technology.
At least one of the men had been inside White Jewelers, according to York Area Regional Police Sgt. Jeff Dunbar.
When officers arrived, they saw two of the men walking out of the neighboring UPS Store. They were identified as Deaundre Tyreak Blount, 19, and 26-year-old Harold Antwan Dorman, police said.
Witnesses then pointed out the third person, who took off when officers started to approach him, Dunbar said.
Gun dropped: As he was running through the parking lot, he tripped on a curb and fell, dropping a handgun in the process, according to police.
Officers arrested him and later identified him as Johann Bernard Campbell, 35.
Police charged Campbell with being a convicted felon in illegal possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license. He also is a fugitive in Virginia, where he's wanted on a probation violation stemming from a robbery conviction, according to police.
Blount -- who allegedly gave officers a false name at the scene -- is charged with false identification to law enforcement.
He was wanted by Lancaster City Police for an Aug. 15 theft from Ream Jewelers, police said.
Dorman was later released, police said.
Blount and Campbell were awaiting transport to York County Prison on Wednesday afternoon, according to a central booking unit supervisor.
Theory: Investigators do have a theory as to why three out-of-state men were hanging around a York County strip mall, Dunbar said.
"We're working a couple leads ... to confirm what they were doing there," he said.
Blount and Campbell were identified through fingerprints, Dunbar said, and Dorman had valid identification.
Dunbar acknowledged the store is located near entrance and exit ramps to Interstate 83, which he said some criminals might take into consideration when planning crimes.
The background: White was shot in the abdomen, left arm and the shoulder/chest area during the July 12 stickup at his store. He survived his wounds.
So far, police have arrested one man for the stickup -- Jamell L. Smallwood, 39, of North Fourth Street in Allentown. The FBI found him being treated for a gunshot wound in New York City's Brooklyn Hospital, according to police.
Smallwood was accidentally shot by one of his accomplices during the holdup, according to police.
He remains in county prison awaiting trial on charges including attempted homicide and robbery.
Taken during the July 12 robbery was high-end jewelry, including watches that cost several thousand dollars each, police have said.
The store is an authorized Rolex watch dealer, according to its website.
-- Staff writer Liz Evans Scolforo can also be reached at levans@yorkdispatch.com.
