Mall Store Robbed of $2 Million in Gems

Four heavily armed robbers took about $2 million in diamonds and other items Tuesday night from a fashionable jewelry store in South Coast Plaza and managed to escape through the busy mall unnoticed, Costa Mesa police said.

The robbery was reported a few minutes before 9 p.m. at Slavick’s Jewelers, located on the mall’s first floor, Sgt. Michael Millington said. First reports said the stolen jewelry was worth about $2 million, but police did not have an accurate inventory.

Four well-dressed men entered the store with handguns drawn and told customers and employees to lie on the floor. Then they ordered the manager and employees to open the store’s display cases, took expensive watches and jewelry, put them in Slavick’s jewelry bags and fled, Millington said.

Eight people were inside the jewelry store at the time, including four customers, none of whom were injured, police said. The store manager told police the holdup occurred about 8:50 p.m., just 10 minutes before closing.

Within minutes after the robbery, police issued a countywide broadcast reporting the robbery and describing the four suspects. Millington said all suspects were black males in their 20s.

Witnesses described one suspect as 5 feet, 6 inches, weighing 150 pounds. He was wearing a gray plaid suit with a black turtleneck sweater.

A second suspect was also 5-feet-6 but slightly heavier at 180 pounds. He wore a dark blue suit with red pinstripes and a maroon turtle neck sweater.

The third man wore a double-breasted suit, and the fourth was described only as a “male black in his 20s,” Millington said.

Employees at adjoining stores reported seeing and hearing nothing unusual. Waiters at a nearby restaurant went about busing dishes and wiping tables, and a manager at a clothing store directly across from the jewelry store said she and her workers “saw nothing.”

Police examined display cases for fingerprints and with mall security officers worked into the night helping a Slavick’s representative take inventory.