‘Freelance International Jewel Thief’ Arrested Here? Another Likely Hoax

Updated at 3:45 p.m. June 14, 2012

A 25-year-old El Cajon man who labels himself on Facebook as a “Freelance International Jewel Thief” is facing robbery charges.

But he wasn’t caught filching gems.  A surveillance camera at the Vons on University Avenue captured him trying to shoplift booze, authorities said.
 
The suspect, Marc Spalsbury, was booked into San Diego Central Jail on a charge of robbery—after trying to pass himself off as a stabbing victim, police said. 

Bail for Spalsbury was set at $100,000, according to jail records. He is scheduled for an arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Monday, June 18, in El Cajon Superior Court.

La Mesa police Thursday say they responded to a report of a stabbing at 10:27 p.m. Wednesday in the 8100 block of Allison Avenue near City Hall.
 
“When officers arrived, they discovered a man bleeding from a deep cut to his finger,” said police Sgt. Bret Richards.  “The man claimed he had been stabbed during a fight at the La Mesa Trolley Station.”
 
But during the investigation, officers received reports of a theft at the Vons grocery store a block away, Richards said. 
 
“Officers discovered that the man with the cut finger attempted to steal a bottle of liquor from Vons,” he said in a news release.  “Vons security officers were alerted to the fleeing suspect and attempted to stop him.  One of the security officers was pushed to the ground and received a small abrasion to his elbow.”
 
The suspect continued running toward Allison Avenue, where he flagged down a passer-by and told her he had been stabbed and robbed.  The passer-by called the police to report a stabbing.
 
The suspect was identified as Spalsbury through video surveillance footage, Richards said. 
 
“It was finally determined that no stabbing had occurred and that the suspect was injured fleeing from the crime scene at Vons,”  he said.
 
A Classmates.com profile said he was a 2000 graduate of Parkway Middle School in La Mesa and also attended Grossmont High School and Santee’s Homestead Continuation High School. But Grossmont High Principal Dan Barnes said Spalsbury had not been a student there.