Chesterfield Armed Home Invasion Suspect Under Arrest

Chesterfield police nabbed a 42-year-old O'Fallon, MO man Thursday in connection with an armed home invasion robbery and assault of a Chesterfield jeweler and his wife, police said late Thursday afternoon.

Police arrested Richard James Lynch on a tip from a pawn shop when someone recognized the stolen loot. Police did not release the name of the area shop.

Lynch is charged with first-degree burglary, two counts robbery in the first-degree, assault in the second degree, two counts of felonious restraint and four counts armed criminal action—all felonies.

Lynch was apparently driving in a car when police stopped him and arrested him as a suspect. Police said Lynch had prior run-ins with the law.

"We knew who we were looking for," said Chesterfield Police PIO Steve Lewis. He said they got the tip yesterday.

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Police said the victims, a Chesterfield family residing off Woods Mill Road in the 13000 block of LaBarge Drive, made a positive identification of the suspect. The intruder was wearing a ski mask and gloves at the time of the home invasion, assault and robbery, according to earlier reports.

The robbery was Feb. 16, about 10 p.m. Police said when he approached his unlocked sliding glass back door, a suspect stepped up behind and put a gun to the victim's head.

When the victim made a comment, the suspect pistol-whipped him on the side of this head, police said. The pair proceeded upstairs inside the house at gunpoint, where the gunman took the jeweler's wife hostage and rummaged the home for jewelry and other valuables with the wife at gunpoint.

The husband was made to lay down still on the bedroom floor, but was able to sneak a 911 call for help. The gunman fled before police arrived that night. The couple's two children were asleep in neighboring rooms.

Lynch is currently being held in St. Louis County jail on a $250,000 cash bond. 

There was , put up by businesses and the pawn shop association immediately after the incident.

Police said the victims did not know the suspect prior to the incident.

Editor's note: "Rap" sheet comes from the acronym for Record of Arrest and Prosecution, according to Wikipedia.