Burglars broke into a Glendora jewelry store through the building’s roof, stealing nearly $1 million in merchandise that the owner had placed in a safe.
Owner Monir Kassis had moved the items from public display cases at Desire Jewelry to a large safe in a back room before leaving town last week, believing it to be the safest location. Upon returning to the store on Glendora Avenue, Kassis found the back room ransacked and a square-shaped hole in the thick safe door.
“When I opened the door, I’m just like, ‘Nightmare,'” Kassis said. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
The burglars, who likely spent about six hours in the store from late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, disabled the security camera in the back room. Although there are cameras in the showroom, the thieves never entered that part of the building.
A showroom camera briefly captured one thief in the safe room and another person at the front window. Audio from the cameras recorded the sound of power tools used to break into the safe.
Kassis, who operates the custom jewelry business with his wife, had placed all their jewelry from the showroom and personal valuables, including his wife’s jewelry, into the office safe. He estimated the total value of the stolen items at about $800,000.
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