Jewel Thief Runs off with $85,000 Bracelet

By Shirley Hawkins

Clerks at Romano’s Jewelers at the Glendale Galleria were stunned and surprised when  man ran off with a bracelet worth nearly $85,000 a few days before Christmas.

The thief strolled into the store and asked to see the white gold Rolex bracelet with eight carats in diamonds. Store employees took it out of the glass case to show it to him.

The thief fingered the bracelet for only a few seconds before sprinting out the door.

The owner of Romano’s Jewelers said normal protocol is to ask for customer’s drivers’ license before letting them handle a piece of jewelry.

“He didn’t look like he would do something because he was wearing expensive jewelry, too,” assistant manager Nadjiba Djellale told KNBC4 news.

The thief was caught on surveillance cameras as two clerks and the manager are seen watching the thief finger the jewelry before he took off running.

Djellale chased him through the mall and into the parking but but the thief disappeared.

Store manager Anthony Hurtado believes that the man had plotted the theft before he came into the store.  “He didn’t come walking around the store,” he said.  “He went straight to the case, straight to the bracelet and ran off with it.”

The man was described as African American, 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, about 130 to 160 pounds. He was wearing a black beanie, dark shirt and a dark leather jacket.

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