Tarzana : Jewelry Store Robbed of $100,000 in Gems

Police are searching for three well-dressed robbers who made off with $100,000 in diamonds, jewelry and watches after they handcuffed employees of a Tarzana jewelry store, police said.

The robbery occurred about 10 a.m. Tuesday in the 19000 block of Ventura Boulevard after one of the robbers, wearing a business suit and holding a watch, posed as a customer at the front door of the Tarzana Jewelry Mart, said Detective Larry Kagele of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The store clerk buzzed open the store’s security entrance and the robber, who was concealing a semi-automatic handgun, motioned toward the parking lot. Another armed man, also African American and dressed in business attire, ran inside, Kagele said.

The two men handcuffed two male clerks at the store, he said. A female employee was not handcuffed, Kagele said.

The robbers grabbed display cases that contained watches, diamond jewelry, gold chains and necklaces and dumped them into a large gray bag, Kagele said. They demanded that the safe be opened, but employees said only the owners had access to it, Kagele said.

The suspects ran out to a waiting van with their loot, jumped inside and sped off, he said. “They were real professionals. They were out of the store in 15 to 20 minutes.”

The van, which was reported stolen, was recovered a few blocks from the store.