Thieves Take $1 Million in Gems From Car

An estimated $1 million in gems was taken from the trunk of a jewelry salesman’s car Wednesday while he and his wife were eating lunch at a Burger King restaurant in Agoura Hills, authorities said.

Investigators theorized that the unidentified salesman and his wife were followed after they made a morning pickup of jewelry from a downtown Los Angeles distributor, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Hutton said.

Shortly before 1 p.m., the two, who live in Visalia, stopped to eat at the fast-food restaurant on Roadside Drive, Hutton said.

Once the couple was inside, witnesses later told police, four men in an old green, four-door Oldsmobile pulled up next to the salesman’s car. Two of the men got out and used a metal bar of some sort to pry open the salesman’s trunk. They removed four jewelry cases full of gems, plus a 9-millimeter pistol, before returning to their own car.

The witnesses told investigators that the car, believed to be a model from about 1970, then headed west on Roadside Drive.

Saw Trunk Open

As the salesman and his wife left the restaurant, they saw the trunk was open and the jewelry gone, Hutton said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Clarence Chapman said the witnesses were teen-agers eating hamburgers in their car “watching the whole thing happen.” They did not come forward until the incident was over, he said, adding, “It kind of makes you mad, but there is nothing you could do about it.”

Hutton said investigators believe the thieves may have been staking out the distributor and “when they saw the stuff being loaded in the trunk, they saw this probably was a jewelry salesman.”

Investigators refused to disclose the identity of the victims, both 65, on grounds that the thieves might try to harm the couple.