A second suspect was busted this week in connection to a violent half-million-dollar Queens jewelry heist that left a 79-year-old woman injured nearly a year ago, cops said.
Abel Andrade Vargas, 21, of Syracuse, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of robbery in connection to the Feb. 22, 2023 stick-up at Diamond Collect near Prince Street and 39th Avenue in Downtown Flushing, police said.
Vargas – joined by 33-year-old accomplice Andry Marcano – rushed into the store, where the violent duo punched, kicked and pistol-whipped 79-year-old Yuchi Lin around 2:30 p.m., cops said.
Store owner Eva Chen previously told The Post her mother, Yuchi, had just flown in from Taiwan for a visit hours earlier when the daughter went to get lunch and left her mom in charge of the store.
“They pointed a gun at her head and said, ‘Open the safe! Open the safe!’” Chen, 43, said of the broad-daylight horror. “But my mom didn’t know. She was totally terrified.”