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FEATURED CRIME VIDEO
Savannah, GA
Jan 30, 2012

SUSPECT REACHES INTO UNLOCKED SHOWCASE, TAKES RING
Savannah, GA – January 30, 2012
(See above video)
Two black male suspects were in a retail jewelry store. While one suspect was being waited on by a sales associate, the second suspect paced back and forth, commenting on the items being shown. When the first suspect drew the sales associate further down the showcase, the second suspect reached into the unlocked showcase and took a diamond ring. Many customers and sales associates were in the store. No one noticed the ring was missing until the end of the day when a count was made, however the crime was then located on the surveillance video. Both suspects are described as between 30-40-years-old and both 6’3” tall. Anyone with information is asked to call the Savannah-Chatham Police Downtown Precinct’s Investigation Unit at 912-651-6994.

SUSPECT IN THEFT
OF DIAMOND RING
Suspect Image
The Englewood (NJ) Police Department has asked the JSA to distribute the photo of the suspect pictured above who is believed to have stolen a diamond ring from the counter of a retail jewelry store on January 27, 2012 while posing as a customer. The suspect was described as a white male, 55-60-years-old, medium frame, with dark brown/graying hair, brown framed glasses and wearing a gold watch and a yellow gold wedding band with a diamond in the center. If you have information or similar incidents, please contact Det. Chris Kedersha of the Englewood (NJ) Police Department at 201-871-6424 or ckedersha@englewoodpd.org.
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ARRESTS AND CONVICTIONS
FRONT PAGE CRIME HEADLINES

SEVEN ARRESTED FOR THEFTS FROM TRAVELING JEWELRY SALESPERSONS
Newport News, VA - March 20, 2012

Federal prosecutors announced that seven suspects had been charged in connection with operating a theft ring based in Richmond, VA that stole from traveling jewelry salespersons. Prosecutors frported that the suspects stole more than $4.6 million in jewelry from traveling salespersons in VA and at least six other states, including New York, new Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee and California. Those charged had initial court appearances in Newport News, VA on March 20th. Prosecutors further reported that after a sucessful robbery, members of the ring would travel to New York to sell the merchandise.

SEVEN SUSPECTS ARRESTED FOR SMASH AND GRAB ROBBERIES
Montclair, CA - March 2012

Seven suspects in their 20s, suspected of smash and grab robberies in Nevada, were arrested by Monclair, CA police investigating a 02/23/12 smash and grab robbery in Monclair in which 23 high-end watches were taken. On March 13th one suspect was arrested and charged with robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a felony. Following surveillance of his residence, five suspects from Las Vegas were located and arrested, and one suspect was arrested in Los Angeles.

Monclair police found evidence that the suspects were planning to rob a jewelry store in the Glendale Galleria and another in San Francisco. Two of the watches stolen in the Henderson, NV robbery were located in a pawn shop in San Diego, and police determined that of the 23 high-end watches stolen in Montclair, 19 were sold to a jewelry broker in Los Angeles.

TWO ROBBERIES OF TRAVELING SALESPERSONS
Arcadia, CA – March 14, 2012
At 12:30 p.m. three male suspects wearing sweatshirts with hoods approached a car in a parking lot of a shopping center in which two jewelry salespersons were sitting. The suspects used a crowbar or other object to smash out the windows. One of the suspects then reached in and took a bag containing jewelry from the salespersons’ car. The salespersons suffered minor injuries in the attack. The suspects fled in a silver or white car, possibly a Honda or Toyota, with paper dealer license plates. Anyone with information is asked to call the Arcadia Police at 626-574-5150.

Dallas, TX – March 15, 2012
A diamond salesperson was robbed leaving the 5580 LBJ Building.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Following a sales call, a salesperson should carefully survey the area outside where his or her vehicle is parked to see if there are suspicious people or vehicles in the area. If the area appears to be clear, salespersons should get in their vehicles as quickly as possible, and not remain sitting in a parked vehicle. They should immediately drive from the area and use evasive driving techniques, such as abrupt U-Turns, extremely slow driving, etc. to make sure they are not being followed.

THREE SUSPECTS RUN WITH FOUR HIGH-END WATCHES
Pembroke Pines, FL – March 14, 2012

At 4:30 p.m. three black male suspects were in a jewelry exchange inside a mall and asked to see high-end watches. When they were being shown the watches and trying them on, they grabbed four watches and ran out of the store and the mall to a waiting getaway car. The vehicle was described as a black Nissan with custom rims. If you have information contact the Pembroke Pines Police Department at 954-431-2200.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Show only one item at a time, especially high-end merchandise, regardless of how many “customers” are in each group.
2. Cameras posted at ceiling level will take useless images of the tops of the heads of suspects, who are often wearing caps. Have surveillance cameras at eye level that are able to take full face photos. One excellent place for a camera is at the door that can capture full face images as suspects leave the store.

BURGLARS ENTER JEWELRY STORE FROM ADJOINING EMPTY STORE
Parker, CO – March 26, 2012

Two while male burglars gained entry to a jewelry store through a common wall of a vacant retail space next door. The burglars escaped in a dark-colored SUV. If you have information, please contact the Parker Police Department, Detective Penny VanDenBerg at 303-805-6560 or Detective Bev Wilson at 303-805-6561.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Empty premises next to a jewelry store create a greatly heightened risk of burglary. Jewelers must make sure that merchandise is not left out overnight. Jewelers must also make sure that their store has alarm coverage of the entire store, that there is line security in place, and that the safe is of a sufficiently high UL rating to be adequate for their level of inventory.

BILLING CLERK ARRESTED IN INTERNAL THEFT
Providence, RI – March 2012

A billing clerk was arrested and charged with taking small pieces of gold and silver jewelry from the jewelry design and manufacturing firm for which she had worked for 23 years. She is alleged to have taken $250,000 worth of merchandise between June 2011 and March 2012. She was charged with larceny and access to a computer for fraudulent purposes. Police stated that she was able to avoid going through the regular metal detectors at the facility, and then erased invoices and adjusted inventories to conceal the theft.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Even long time and highly trusted employees can pose an internal theft risk.
2. No employee, even a “trusted” one, should be able to avoid the standard security procedures at a facility.

CRIME PREVENTION ADVICE FOR JEWELERS

JEWELERS MUST ALWAYS BE ON HIGH ALERT WHEN BUYING GOLD!
There has been a large increase of crime reports to JSA involving frauds and switches against retail jewelers when they are buying gold from walk-in sellers. Due to the poor economy and the high price of gold, the buying of gold by retail jewelers has increased dramatically and has resulted in a substantial increase in these crimes. There are two basic types of crimes:

1. The seller will produce a real gold item which the jeweler will test and will determine that it is in fact gold. However, sometime before the seller leaves the store with cash or a check, the seller switches the item that was tested for a non-gold item. The seller may switch it by putting it back in a bag and taking out a different item or some other method.

Following testing, jewelers must be sure that the seller has no opportunity to switch the item.

2. The seller will produce a fake gold item which is heavily plated and tests positive that it is gold, however, the gold plating is only superficial. The jeweler pays and the seller leaves. The jeweler later subjects the item to more rigorous testing and discovers it is not gold and that there has been a fraud.

Superficial testing of the item may not indicate the true metal beneath the surface.

SECURITY AT HOME
1. Jewelers should vary their travel route from store to home and make sure they are not being watched or followed. This requires evasive driving action.

2. Jewelers must be concerned about their physical security at home: proper alarms, locks and lighting.

3. In many invasions of jewelers’ homes, a family member at home has opened the door to the invaders, who often pretend to be delivery people. All family members and household help must be trained to follow strict security procedures and not open the door to unknown persons.

4. All family members must be alert to suspicious persons around the home who may be engaged in casing the home seeking information such as who are the family members and what are their patterns and schedules.

5. Jewelers should have unlisted and unpublished home phone numbers, and should make sure that their home phone number can’t be located on Google or another search engine, along with their home address.

6. Jewelers must be careful with respect to home and family information and photos on social networking sites such as Facebook.

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