Famed sneaker reseller “Upscale Cracc” was shot to death by a pair of strangers who tailed him to SoHo all the way from a strip club in Queens just to snatch the flashy jewelry they saw him showing off on Instagram, prosecutors have revealed.
Javier Osorio-Mejia, a 31-year-old dad with a 57,000-strong Instagram following under the moniker Upscale Cracc, wasn’t even given a moment to give up his jewelry before he was gunned down by the crooks.
It took about 45 seconds for career criminal Jayquan Straker and an accomplice still on the loose to strip Osorio-Mejia of his jewelry and pull a Rolex watch off his wrist as he lay dying in the street, prosecutors said at Straker’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Saturday.
This isn’t the first time Straker has been accused of a crime that grabbed headlines.
He was paroled from prison in September after serving 10 years for a botched Brooklyn home invasion in which he and an accomplice posed as FedEx workers — and were shot at by a 10-year-old boy who snatched the gun they dropped.
Straker, 35, was nabbed Thursday and charged with murder, robbery and weapon possession for the June 25 killing of Osario-Mejia
Straker and his accomplice waited for Osorio-Mejia to leave a nightclub in Queens, circling the club in a rented gray 2023 Chevrolet Malibu with a stolen license plate, Assistant District Attorney Kaleigh Shea said Saturday.
When Osorio-Mejia drove off from the club about 4:45 a.m. with a woman in his passenger seat they followed, tailing his Range Rover from Dream Gentleman’s Club in Woodside all the way to Greene St. near Grand St. in SoHo, prosecutors allege.
When the sneaker seller stepped out of his vehicle to use a bathroom Straker allegedly pulled up alongside him and fired three shots. The bullets grazed Osorio-Mejia’s head and tore through his right leg, severing his femoral artery, prosecutors revealed.
The two crooks then threw Osorio-Mejia to the ground and robbed him as he bled out. They didn’t get everything — police found several pieces of men’s jewelry, cash and coins on the ground covered in blood, according to a criminal complaint.
Osorio-Mejia’s passenger was still in the Range Rover when she heard three gunshots then saw him on the sidewalk bleeding, according to the complaint.
Video captured the shooting and robbery, and detectives sifted through surveillance footage, GPS data from the rental company and phone records to link the car to Straker and his Brooklyn address, according to the complaint.
Straker was ordered held without bail Saturday on the murder charges. His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.
In the 2010 home invasion case, Straker and an accomplice dressed as FedEx workers, stormed into a two-family Canarsie home and forced several adults and children, including the 10-year-old and a 6-year-old, to the ground at gunpoint, Shea said
One of the adult victims fought back and one of the crooks dropped a gun. The 10-year-old picked up the weapon and shot at one of the robbers but missed.
Straker ultimately pleaded guilty to burglary in that case.