Alleged ring thief arrested after brief standoff with police at east Houston motel

HOUSTON – Eighteen.

That’s how many rings Kenneth Johnson allegedly stole this summer, and Houston police said they finally nabbed him Monday.

Before we knew who Johnson was, he was just a suspect barricaded inside an east Houston Motel 7 Monday morning.

Police tried to serve an arrest warrant for theft, so Johnson decided to lock himself inside the bathroom.

Prior to that day, police said Johnson had a specific M.O.

He is accused of trying on expensive rings at several Macy's stores and swapping them with fake rings.

On July 29, he took three rings from the Almeda Mall Macy's, police said. That's a total of $23,199. So far, one of those rings has been recovered.

The next day, he took three rings from the Greenspoint Mall Macy's. So far two of those rings have been recovered.

Essentially, he'd hand the fake rings back to the employee, walk out with the real ones and sell them at a pawn shop.

The likelihood of a scheme like this happening at Reiner's Fine Jewelry on Westheimer is slim.

Vice president Lenny Reiner has no connection to this case but he said there is a very important rule his employees need know.

"Stay with the customer," Reiner said.

Employees here don't leave the showcases. But if they do, someone always takes over to watch the customer.

"All our rings have tags on them and they have barcodes and it would be quite difficult to take a ring and swap it in my store," Reiner said.

On Monday, police threw tear gas inside the motel room and coaxed Johnson out. He was arrested peacefully.

All told, the rings he is accused of stealing total between $150,000 and $300,000.

He is in jail with no bond and his next court appearance is Sept. 29.

In March 1989, Johnson was convicted of burglarizing a building, according to court documents.