Ritz-Carlton Guest Reports Large Theft : Crime: Cash and jewelry said to total $276,000 are looted from room safes in one of 2 burglaries at posh Dana Point hotel. Victim says police think the crime might be an inside job.

A New Jersey surgeon says his visit to the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel to celebrate his 40th anniversary turned into a nightmare this weekend when more than a quarter of a million dollars in cash and jewelry was stolen from his room.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Sunday that it is investigating separate burglaries reported Saturday by Dr. Harold Fischer and by another hotel guest visiting from Europe.

“The estimated total is in excess of $200,000,” Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Leonard said. Investigators were at the hotel throughout the night and are treating the Fischer case “as a major burglary,” Sgt. Wayne Carlander said.

Fischer, 68, said he and his family had gone to the beach Saturday from about 1 to 5 p.m. and returned to discover the theft.

“Our suite was broken into, and two safes were opened up,” Fischer said. “We’ve lost all our credit cards, our jewelry, our cash and our personal belongings. Everything has been stolen.”

Fischer said his family’s loss alone included $270,000 in jewelry, about $6,000 in cash, and the family’s return plane tickets to New Jersey. “We have nothing left,” he said.

No one could be reached for comment at the Ritz-Carlton chain’s corporate office in Atlanta. In Dana Point, assistant rooms manager Michael Defrino said, “There’s no one else you can talk to, and I will not.”

Carlander said that in addition to the Fischers’ report of break-ins at their fourth-floor suite and their daughter’s adjoining suit, a third burglary was reported by another guest on the first floor of the hotel. Sheriff’s deputies identifed him as Eugene Matusousky.

Fischer, in an interview Sunday, charged that management at the Ritz-Carlton had been less than helpful.

“They told me the hotel is not responsible for the safes,” which are built into the wall of Fischer’s suite. “We’re getting no assistance.”

Fischer said he, his wife, son and daughter, all of Short Hills, N.J., arrived at the Dana Point hotel on Aug. 29. His daughter had a separate room, Fischer said, and he, his wife and son shared a two-bedroom suite that had two safes.

When they returned to their rooms Saturday, “Things were out of place, but not ransacked,” he said. “Someone had cut open our suitcases. They’d cut the locks off the suitcases.” The safes had been emptied, he said.

Fischer notified hotel management, but heard nothing for several hours, he said.

“I think the hotel is very concerned about no bad publicity on this, because we’re told several celebrities, including Lily Tomlin, are staying here this weekend,” Fischer said. “I kept trying to call police myself, but my calls were just routed by the switchboard to the hotel security office.

“Finally, about 8 o’clock that night, I got my own cellular phone and went outside and called. I found that Dana Point doesn’t have a police department. So I talked to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. And the sheriff’s people told me that they were already at the hotel, investigating other (burglaries).”

Fischer said Orange County Sheriff’s investigators spent late Saturday night in his suite “looking for fingerprints and things like that. They said there was no visible signs of forcible entry, and they said they felt it was an inside job. They said they think someone used a pass key to get into the safes and then made it look like the safes were broken into.”

A hotel employee said the Fischers had specifically requested the Ritz-Carlton’s “club level,” meaning the fourth floor, the only one which requires an elevator key to access.

Fischer said that without cash or credit cards on Sunday, he and his family felt “disoriented.” He said the hotel had offered sympathy, but little else.

“The hotel told me they’d give us $100 and put it on our hotel bill,” Fischer said. “I think this whole thing is being mishandled. No one seems to be doing anything.

“We’re from the New York area, and I can tell you that something like this would be handled differently there. I feel as if we’re in another country: a Third World country.”