$474,000 in Jewelry Stolen in 2 Santa Monica Robberies

Santa Monica police say bandits made off with about $474,000 in jewelry during two robberies in the last week, and that another dealer’s quick thinking recently may have helped her avert a similar holdup.

About 6 p.m. last Thursday, a jewelry salesman checking into a Main Street hotel was approached by several men, one with a crowbar, as he got out of his car, said Sgt. Tim Bauer of the Santa Monica Police Department.

The man locked his car doors and fled into the hotel, where he watched the men break his car window, open the trunk and steal display cases containing $420,000 in custom jewelry studded with gold, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and other gems, Bauer said.

Police have not identified any suspects in that robbery, or in an apparently unrelated holdup Sunday afternoon.

They say they do not know if the robberies had anything to do with a weekend jewelry and gem show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, an event authorities say usually prompts activity by thieves.

“Generally when we have the show in town, we incur anywhere from three to six robberies or attempted robberies,” Bauer said.

In the second robbery, two jewelers who had just left the gem show were sitting in their car at a Lincoln Boulevard restaurant about 12:30 p.m. when an armed gunman robbed them of $54,800 in personal effects, including an $8,000 Rolex watch, police said.

Sgt. John Miehle said the jewelry was obvious to anyone walking by the car and that authorities do not know if the bandits followed the men from the gem show.

On March 29, a gem dealer told police she saw a man get out of a car that had pulled up next to hers at a stoplight near Santa Monica Place and approach her car. A short time later, she noticed her tire going flat, and noticed the man and an accomplice following her car, police said.

She then made a U-turn and pulled into the Main Street police station parking lot, suspecting she was about to be robbed of the jewels she was carrying with her, and the two men sped off in their car, according to Sgt. John Hudson.

“That is a common scam, and she was warned about it,” Hudson said.