PORTLAND — A Massachusetts woman who lied to a federal grand jury in Maine about a 2007 jewelry heist in which men with guns took hostages in a Kittery store pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of making false statements.

Yaira Ramos, 30, of Saugus, Mass., lied to the grand jury in U.S. District Court on June 25, 2008, to cover for her then-boyfriend, Miguel Caraballo, and two other men after they robbed Ultra Diamonds jewelry store, according to court records.

Caraballo had driven a stolen van while the two others, Kelvin Morales and Sam Rodriguez, went into the jewelry store on June 26, 2007, and ordered the employees into a back room at gunpoint and then tied them up with zip ties. Morales and Rodriguez stole the jewelry in the store’s display cases and escaped through the store’s back door, according to filings by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Caraballo, Morales and Rodriguez then drove back to Caraballo’s apartment in Lawrence, Mass., where Ramos saw them come in with bags of stolen jewelry from the heist, including a display box with rings she saw one of them put on the table, the court records state.

Ramos was asked by a prosecutor during the grand jury proceeding whether she found out what was in the bags that the men brought into the apartment.

“No. Didn’t even ask,” Ramos told the grand jury, according to the court filing.

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Ramos is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge D. Brock Hornby at a future date, when she will face up to five years in federal prison.

Caraballo, 42, was sentenced on March 5 to serve 115 months in federal prison. Morales and Rodriguez, both 27, were sentenced in 2008 to serve 70 months and 80 months, respectively. Caraballo, Morales and Rodriguez were each ordered to pay nearly $167,000 in restitution.

Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan


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