NJ Jeweler Helps Police Nab Trio of Alleged Thieves

New York--A jeweler in New Jersey aided police in catching a trio of distraction theft suspects after recognizing them from one of the Jewelers Security Alliance’s crime alert emails. 

The story of the arrests was picked up by ABC 7 New York.

According to ABC 7, the three individuals entered a Denville, New Jersey store on Saturday afternoon, one carrying an empty bag. 

The woman in the group expressed interest in a ring set with a large stone--a stone so big that the store’s owner joked that she’d have to wear it on her wrist instead of her finger--but something didn’t seem right to the jeweler.



Then, according to ABC 7, it hit him: These three people looked like the individuals from the JSA crime alert email circulated last Friday.


According to that alert, on Jan. 31, a man and a woman allegedly entered a mall jewelry store in Massapequa, N.Y. at 8:15 p.m. and started talking to an employee about purchasing jewelry. 

While they were engaged in conversation, a second man is said to have entered the store and took a tray of rings from an unlocked display cabinet, slipping the rings into a red bag and leaving the store. 

The employee didn’t notice the tray was missing until the other two suspects left the store.

The JSA said in its alert that these three individuals were suspects in another distraction theft that same day, this one at a mall jewelry store in Garden City, N.Y.

The picture above is the same photo that appeared in the crime bulletin and was the photo that allowed the New Jersey jeweler to recognize the suspects.

According to ABC 7, after the jeweler became suspicious, he went to the back of the store and called police. All three suspects were arrested shortly after they left the store and charged with conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit burglary.

The JSA recommends that jewelers and jewelry store employees keep all showcases and display cabinets locked expect when taking out or returning merchandise to the case.