The news of the robbery in Love Jewels spread rapidly among the owner’s family through alarming text messages.
Someone had entered the store on the weekend, the first worker to arrive said to the others, and had entered one of the boxes.
But when the relatives arrived at the business in Broadway and 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning, the scope of the loss was clear; Millions of dollars had gone in gold and jewels and wrote throughout the owner’s face.
“When I got here I could see my father’s reaction, I could see that they got everything,” said the son of the store owner Al Times on Wednesday.
On Sunday night, the police say that a group of certain thieves pierced, beat and climbed through multiple walls in the old center of Roxie Theater and broke in Love Jewels, Queen of Gold, and stole approximately $ 10 million.
The thieves cleared showcases in Love Jewels, Queen of Gold and escaped with millions of dollars in gold and jewelry.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The video of the sequelae published by the store on social networks showed the business office in a complete disorder, with documents and debris that cover the soil and the shell shattered from an empty safe.
A handful of earrings and silver chains were everything that was there on Wednesday.
“There is nothing left,” said the owner, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of his safety. The content of the boxes was the family’s life savings and they were not safe, he said.
LAPD researchers determined that the robbery began around 9:30 pm on Sunday, but the family said the thief crew could have begun to cut the adjacent properties before. It is believed that thieves are professionals who spent hours within the business. The modus operandi of the robbery could help reduce the search for suspects.
According to the family, the business safety alarm was deactivated and a ring chamber of the store was cut just before 10 pm, another business safety food was reduced hours before, so the family said it is difficult to specify when filming.
The family offers a $ 100,000 reward for the recovery of their merchandise and is operating online only for the moment, said the owner.
The thieves cut a hole in the safe against Love Jewels, Queen of Gold and escaped with millions of dollars in gold and jewelry.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Meanwhile, the main FBI robbery work group has intervened to help with research.
The security cameras of the nearby companies captured the thieves as they entered and left a vacancy. At one point, they dragged a garbage can of a vehicle and seemed to wear construction equipment, agree for the family.
In the security video of the robbery, you can listen to a massive drill carving through the main wall like Castillo’s, making a hole large enough for a person to slide.
Lapd Captain Raul Jovel, who supervises the central division of the department, said the thieves went to the building from a vacancy.
“They get used to some really thick old walls. They get used to a small room and then through a second wall,” Jovel said. “This was a serious excavation.”
This was the first time that thieves have run to Love Jewels.
About 13 years ago, a similar robbery was frustrated when the culprits were trapped in the spot, said the owner.
LAPD researchers say recent thieves, after entering, cut the feeding of the security camera, and there are no images of them within the business. However, LAPD forensic experts are examining the scene for digital footprints and DNA.
The family believes that there are more security images of nearby companies that show the vehicle of a suspect and ask any person with more information that they share with the police. A GOFUNDME It was created to help the family compensate for their costs and help them keep their businesses afloat.
