VIDEO SHOWS THIEVES STEALING $200,000 IN JEWELRY: EL CAJON STORE OWNER UNINSURED FOR LOSS

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By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Screenshot from surveillance video, courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

March 16, 2018 (El Cajon) – The owner of Forever Fine Jewelry has suffered a devastating loss after thieves stole $200,000 worth of gold and silver jewelry. A group of nine people, including five men and women with babies, distracted the owner while a woman dressed in black, shown on surveillance  video, crawled on the floor to snatch jewelry from display cases and a safe in a back room, 10 News reports.

The owner, an Iraqi immigrant who came here a decade ago,borrowed money from family to start the business and had no insurance for the losses, NBC 7 reports.

The thieves had been in the store on Main Street in El Cajon earlier in the day casing the establishment, then came back at closing time on February 28th for the heist. But they did leave key clues:  fingerprints were obtained off the safe.

If you have any information about the identity of the woman shown on the surveillance video, or any other leads on this crime, please contact the El Cajon Police Department.


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Comments

IDENTITY

A better video system would have been helpful (and cameras at normal eye level), as would still photos of these thieves. The woman snatching the jewelry out of the safe appeared to know exactly what shelf to go to. An inside job perhaps? Businesses should always keep their safes locked during open hours. Prevents thefts such as this, and thwarts takeover robberies. Hopefully ECPD will find them (I'd bet someone in the Iraqi community knows them) but recovering the stolen merchandise will be another matter. Sad time for the store owner, perhaps a GO FUND ME account ought to be started.