Accused Elyria jewelry store robber Brian Foster charged in federal court

Federal prosecutors have charged an Elyria man with robbing the Kay Jewelers store in Chestnut Commons in October. Brian Foster, 37, was in federal custody Monday, charged in U.S. District Court in Cleveland with one count of interference with commerce by robbery. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment the same day. Foster remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to federal court records. A trial is scheduled in March. Foster was charged with entering the Kay Jewelers at 550 Chestnut Commons Drive on Oct. 14. Carrying a firearm, he stole 43 pieces of jewelry worth a total of $62,415 before fleeing, according to federal court records. Elyria police Detective Sgt. James Wise wrote in a criminal complaint filed in federal court that officers responded to an alarm at the store just before 6:30 p.m. that day. Witnesses described the robber as a white male, wearing all black including a face mask and a cross body-style satchel on his chest and carrying a black handgun. He was estimated to be 5 feet, 7 inches to 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 150 to 175 pounds and in his mid-20s. Employees complied with the robber's demands to open display cases. The robber told them if he heard anything over a police scanner he was carrying, "you won't go home tonight," according to the criminal complaint. A police K-9 tracked the robber toward nearby state Route 57 where several pieces of jewelry were recovered, Wise wrote in the criminal complaint. Security cameras at the nearby Walmart showed a dark Ford Ranger pickup parked along the east side of Route 57, and the robber walking away from it before the robbery then back to it afterward. Officers determined the truck was registered to a woman living in an apartment on Park Meadow Lane. The woman has not been charged with any state or federal crime related to the robbery. They learned she and Foster had been interviewed by police inside a similar-looking truck in May 2025. During that incident, Foster was wearing light-colored, stonewashed jeans similar to what the robber had on. The jeans also had a distinct hole in the right knee and except for his age, Foster matched the physical description of the robber, Wise wrote. Surveillance footage from Park Meadow Lane on Oct. 14 showed a man fitting Foster's description leaving the apartment complex in a Ford Ranger while wearing clothing similar to what the robber had on, Wise wrote. Police detained Foster and the woman on Oct. 22 when they stopped at the Speedway gas station on East Broad Street. "Detectives spoke with (the woman) who shared that Brian had recently lost his job and she has noticed him in possession of newer items of jewelry to include the earrings he was presently wearing," Wise wrote. She also told police he had been gone for about 20 minutes the evening of the robbery. Read his rights and interviewed by detectives, Foster asked them: "What took you so long to find me?" Foster allegedly admitted driving the truck on the day of the robbery but "was reluctant to make any outright admissions even when faced with the evidence," Wise wrote. Detectives found much of the stolen jewelry and a black BB gun after searching Foster's apartment and the Ford Ranger, according to the criminal complaint. One of the jewelry items still had a Kay Jewelers inventory tag on it that matched a list of the stolen items, Wise wrote. In a phone call to the woman from the Lorain County Jail recorded by authorities, Foster told her that police caught him using "cameras on the highway." The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office on Friday dismissed charges of aggravated robbery, tampering with evidence, grand theft and possession of criminal tools it had filed in December. They were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled later. Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre said the potential penalty for the alleged federal crime is greater than any Foster likely would have received if convicted on state charges. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.