West Coast jewel heist Authorities believe international jewelry thieves who tried to steal about a million dollars in merchandise at an Oahu jewelry store Nov. 13 struck again in California the following day.
similar to Oahu case
Foiled in Hawaii last month,
the gang eludes the FBI,
too busy after Sept. 11By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.comThe suspects, posing as Saudi Arabian royalty, were said to have stolen half a million dollars in merchandise from a Newport Beach jewelry store on Nov. 14, authorities said.
"They got away with a ring and a bracelet worth about $500,000," Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Schulman said. "It seems to be similar to what happened in Hawaii."
In the Hawaii case, two suspects, a man and a woman posing as a Saudi Arabian princess and her bodyguard, were caught palming diamond rings by the owners of Hilgund Jewelers in the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawaii hotel.
Store owner Bruce Bucky said his salespeople had gift-wrapped the jewelry selected by the "princess" and put them in the store safe as the "bodyguard" requested, saying that he and the princess would return later to pay.
Suspicious, Bucky unwrapped the jewelry boxes only to find that they no longer contained any jewelry.
Bucky confronted the couple and got the jewelry back but said a visiting jewelry manufacturer from California let the couple go, not knowing that they were suspected of stealing an estimated $2.8 million dollars in jewelry since November last year.
"It's time for them to be caught," said Jeweler's Security Alliance Vice President Robert W. Frank, whose organization represents up to 19 thousand jewelry firms across the nation. "They're probably on the streets of New York already.
"I'm almost ready to go out and get them myself."
Frank said the couple spotted in Hawaii is part of a group of four jewelry thieves comprised of two men, brothers, and two women, all of whom have played the part of Saudi Arabian royalty at one time or another. Frank said the group has struck about 30 times since 1994 and gotten away with an estimated $10 million dollars in high-end diamond jewelry.
"At a Madison Avenue jewelry store, they (the suspects) were tossing $100 around to everyone ... $100 for opening the door, $100 for getting them coffee," described Frank. "
The store workers were so convinced that they were the real thing that they let the princess sit in the vault.
"Later they found out that she got away with an entire tray of diamonds worth about $600,000."
Frank said the FBI was close to catching the suspects before Sept. 11 but were forced to focus on terrorism after that. So far, the only arrest warrant issued in the case is for one of the male suspects, out of Palm Beach, Fla.
"When they're finally caught, I want to take them out to dinner, tell them how much I admire their skill, then put them in jail," said Frank, an ex-New York homicide detective. "They've got to be stopped."