Jewelry Heist Makes Off With $3 Million
Eric Richardson / blogdowntown
This March 2010 photo shows Broadway Gold Center (right), the store robbed last month.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — On Saturday, February 19, burglars broke into a building on the 600 block of Broadway before tunneling into an adjacent jewelry store and making off with $3 million in merchandise, mostly gold wedding bands and engagement rings.
While most jewelry businesses take their merchandise to a safe at the end of each working day, police say that the owners of Broadway Gold Center at 601 S. Broadway had stopped doing so to save the three hours it would take them to set up and take in the merchandise daily.
The burglars appeared to know what they were doing. "It appears the suspects may have had knowledge of the building and were able to successfully tunnel in to the specific jewelry store," police said in Tuesday's release. The break-in took place between 7:30 and 9:30pm.
A low-resolution surveillance video released by LAPD on Tuesday shows two men in masks working their way through the store carrying backpacks and flashlights, emptying trays of jewelry into their bags.
Finding leads has proved difficult. "They were completely disguised, so you can't go by that," Central Area Burglary Detective Michael Mazzacano told blogdowntown. "They were gloved, so there aren't really any prints."
Police are hopeful that the video and information about the robbery might produce tips. Anyone with information is asked to contact Mazzacano at 213-972-1231.
derblut on March 01, 2011, at 10:14PM – #1
This story is unreal.
Oscar on March 02, 2011, at 06:50AM – #2
wow, it even make it into the news, right after Charlie Sheen!!!
Simon Ha on March 02, 2011, at 07:16AM – #3
"three hours it work take them"? Typo?? I hope he has insurance to cover his losses. I have been hearing about a lot of jewelry thefts that have been occuring - mostly grab and run. This seems much more sofisticated like the heists in the movie Score. And having worked in a jewerly store, it should not take 3 hours to take out of put away in the safe. They were lazy and careless and got taken advantage of. And get a better security system!
jehjeh on March 02, 2011, at 01:45PM – #4
To Simon, There is no typo in the article. Read it again. And it is spelled sophisticated not sofisticated.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on March 02, 2011, at 01:52PM – #5
jehjeh: There was one. I fixed it this morning.
M_M on March 02, 2011, at 02:31PM – #6
clues
"They were completely disguised, so you can't go by that," Two matching odd backpacks, same color and type (boxy) with what looks like a luggage tag. Where these bought in downtown LA? See tag at 1:12 Ideal with for the size of the trays for dumping at 1:47. How long does it take to be familiar with a stores particular jewelry case tray size?
:47 Guy walks sliding bag on counter to exactly where he wants to be in the dark!
Gray ski mask with black pin stripes? Not too common. Stylish.
Reflections on shoes 21:13:31 (:54)
Comfortable wearing hoodies. Only particular age groups wear hoodies.
The break-in took place between 7:30 and 9:30pm. Still early enough for people to be on the street/buses.
"They were gloved, so there aren't really any prints." They were putting flashlights in their mouths for almost 3 minutes. No saliva drops?
In the beginning shuffling around the partner, who would touch there partner around the waist and side step that way? Guy and girl? Motorcycle couple? Look at size difference. Only a girl is going to grab her man by the inside lower love handle. Two guys and one would put there hand on the others shoulder.
Jumping at :34 Why? Multiple jumps. Short people.
asian guy and girl, motorcycle riders.
@ 1:02 The guy remembers something he needs to go do. That is a comfortable feeling. In an adrenaline state of a burglary I doubt you would be "Oh yeah, I have to go do that."
1:47 The guy already has a feel for how to pull a tray of jewelry out without bumping anything to drop some contents.
Did they break into the store or break out making it look like a break in?
They weren't worried about being discovered.
Two people wearing boxy pack packs on the streets of LA at night in white or gray? Tunneling in white? Didn't look dirty.
1 1/2 hours to set up/put away, 3 minutes to take out and dump?
Brady Westwater (@bradywestwater) on March 02, 2011, at 05:52PM – #7
I agree with MM - there are plenty of clues in this video. The body types of the two robbers, the way they move, their heights, their limberness - so if they had ever worked there - they should be easily recognized.
But - even if not - if there are enough saved daily camera tapes - it might not be that hard to find two people with their exact body types and proportions casing the place.
Benjamin Pezzillo (@pezzillo) on March 02, 2011, at 10:04PM – #8
The best clue in this video is that the thieves knew they could get away with making some noise without being detected (e.g. throwing the boxes, banging on the case glass).
The one thief is likely jumping to redirect a camera (for instance, off one or more of the exits). I imagine that is hard to do in a dark room to the point you know you have been successful.
One thief likely bumped into the other in the dark as to why they touched they way they did. Anything more is purely speculation.
The best hope is perimeter video and police may be holding back on that and more. There's certainly not going to be any identification of the tag on that bag from this video and nothing conclusive other than they there were at least two people involved, they knew what was there, when to go, that they could expect cameras and that they could be loud without concern.
Obviously, the owners, employees, building security and recent customers are the starting place in the trail of people.
Nancy Richardson (@nanorich) on March 03, 2011, at 06:17AM – #9
cough:::(inside job):::cough, cough.
SimonHa on March 03, 2011, at 09:43AM – #10
@ jahjah: Sorry if I offended you with my poor spelling.
My family is in the jewelry business so I know that if you have a case with very expensive items, those cases are put that in the safe. This takes minutes. If you had to put away all the cases, it still would not take 3 hours.
$3m worth of jewelry is a lot of merchandize unless you're robbing Winston's which this is not. Can you imagine how heavy $3m worth of gold is? Roughly about 220 lbs.
From the article, most of the merchandise stolen were wedding bands and engagement rings... so if they had lots of diamond rings... maybe they could carry them out in 2 backpacks... I doubt they are telling the truth about the amount stolen.
A small shop like this would not leave out $3m of merchandise with security system that doesn't even have motion detection.
I think I caught what Nancy has... cough, cough, inside job... cough, cough, insurance scam…
And jahjah, I left one word miss spelled so you can have fun with it :)
Diana Deeaahnaah Diaz on March 04, 2011, at 02:27AM – #11
When I am walking behind someone like that, I might touch them whereever it's easiest to touch them so they know I am passing. That's not any kind of a clue really.
Interesting to note about the amount stolen - retail value is way overpriced. They may not be "lying" but going by full retail value. Also, some of it might be high karat gold and larger diamonds. It's easy to get up that high.