ST. CHARLES - Seven men indicted on racketeering conspiracy charges included the 2001 robbery of a St. Charles jewelry store, federal prosecutors said.

The indictment alleges that  the seven participated in a criminal enterprise for eight years that included armed robberies and thefts from seven jewelry stores, including one at The Gold Mine, 213 W. Main St., St. Charles on April 26, 2001, in which $29,780 worth of rings was taken.

Gold Mine owner Jay Montgomery remembered.

"I was showing him engagement rings and he grabbed them and ran," Montgomery said.

One of those indicted this week, Mark Hay, 52, of Chicago, was also a suspect in the jewelry store's only other robbery attempt on Aug. 14, 2003.

The man came in to look at engagement rings, but was so distracted by repeated calls on his cell phone, he excused himself and said he would come back, clerk Tom Lannoye said.

"When he came back in ... he had dark sunglasses on and did not take them off," Lannoye recalled. "I said, 'Is there a particular ring you're looking at?' He was very chatty the first time he was in, but this time he did not say a word. I got real suspicous when he did not say anything."

The would-be jewelry buyer then pulled out a round cylinder of pepper spray and Lannoye said he was blinded to maybe 5 percent to 10 percent of his vision.

But instead of pulling back and allowing the rings to be taken, Lannoye resisted.

"I lunged at him to grab him," Lannoye said. "I could feel the rings against my stomach and he was reaching over the counter. I tossed them on the floor behind the display case. He sprayed so much pepper spray, he was gagging and choking himself. The whole store was full of pepper spray. And then the guy left."

Lannoye's action saved the store from a potential loss of $250,000 in diamond engagement rings.

Relying on the store's security video, St. Charles police tracked Hay to his house in Chicago, Montgomery said.

"His car was in the driveway and the pepper spray can was on the console," Montgomery said. "When they knocked on the door, his lawyer called St. Charles police and negotiated when he would turn himself in. They had him that night."

But on March 11, 2005, three days before Hay's trial was to begin in Kane County, prosecutors dropped the charges saying they did not believe the man in the surveillance video was the one who sprayed Lannoye and tried to take the rings.

Lannoye said he could not believe it.

"I picked him out of a photo line-up," Lannoye said. "We had three angles of cameras. And then they say they're not sure we have the right guy."

A spokesman for the Kane County State's Attorney's Office could not elaborate on comments made in 2005 about why charges against Hay were dropped.

Hays now stands accused of participating in robberies of jewelry stores, identifying potential targets for robbery, surveillance of robbery targets and acquiring stolen vehicles to use in robberies.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment on Hay's possible connection to the pepper spray robbery attempt.


Also charged in the indictment was Michael "Big Mike" Sarno, 51, of Westchester, Mark Polchan, 41, formerly of Justice and Samuel Volpendesto, 85, of Oak Brook, James Formato, 42, a former Berwyn police officer, Anthony Volpendesto, 45, Samuel's son, and Dino Vitalo, 40, a Cicero police officer since 1991.

The indictment also seeks a forfeiture of nearly 42 million from six defendants as process of alleged racketeering. The seven defendants are in federal custody and will be arraigned in U.S. District Court.