Jeweler robbed at art fair

Jewelry Discussion
1

Here is a confirmed report passed on to me by a jeweler friend-- a
reminder to be vigilant, and to possibly avoid going to the door of
your hotel room when anyone is in the hallway, so your room cannot
be identified.

Noel

2 
Here is a confirmed report passed on to me by a jeweler friend-- a
reminder to be vigilant, and to possibly avoid going to the door
of your hotel room when anyone is in the hallway, so your room
cannot be identified.

It seems that the “meat” of this message somehow disappeared, so her
it is again:

This weekend at Bellevue, Washington one of the gold jewelers lost
his entire inventory + a huge amount of loose unset gems. This
jeweler lost in excess $100,000 worth of inventory and gems. He was
“shopped” first and then followed back to the Hyatt. Once they
figured out where he was staying, someone rode the elevator up with
him (to the 20th floor) and after he left his room, they crow-barred
it open and took just his bag of jewelry and gems. It was all very
professional. While he is very careful he was “lulled” into a bit of
a false sense of security by the upscale city and fancy hotel. All
was caught on a security tape. It took the 2 guys apx 8 minutes to
break in, find the bag, and leave. They knew which bag to grab. They
were described as: 2 men, olive complexion, possibly Hispanic. One
was 5’9", both wearing baseball hats, one said Kangol on it.

Noel

3

gee noel -

It took the 2 guys apx 8 minutes to break in, find the bag, and
leave. They knew which bag to grab. They were described as: 2 men,
olive complexion, possibly Hispanic. One was 5'9", both wearing
baseball hats, one said Kangol on it.

surely with that spot-on description they’ve already caught the two
men - right? it’s unfortunate the jeweler didn’t avail himself of the
hotel’s large guests’ safe (usually located in hotels’ offices to
prevent guests from leaving valuables in their rooms), which will
count against the jeweler with his insurance company.

if the jeweler had been ‘lulled’ by the upscale hotel and its
‘security’ he should have remembered that few thieves choose flea-bag
hotels to rob - they pick upscale hotels, “because”, as the notorious
bank robber willie sutton explained about robbing banks, “that’s
where the money is” or in this case “where the money was” -

ive

4

Ive:

I wrote the original post and sent it out to jewelers I know. I’m
glad to see it is distributing itself. I sent it as a warning to
show jewelers, that we all at times can drop our guard as this
jeweler did, and to remind them to be vigilant. Also since this
happened in the Pacific NW it was aimed at those jewelers whose shows
that are yet to happen.

Making fun of his story is counter-productive. The description is
vague because the video tapes of the suspects was awful. I’m sure he
is kicking himself for all the reasons you have pointed out, plus
many others. It was a sad time for all of us there, and I was hoping
by sharing his story to prevent someone else the same unhappiness.

Carla