Just after 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, an unknown number of robbers broke into the Gold Originals jewelry store on Main Street and took off with more than $60,000 worth of gold nugget jewelry.
“They must have just swiped whatever they could with their arms and ran. We found some pieces dropped on the floor,” said Ruth Hell, the store clerk who was on call the night of the robbery.
But this was no smash-and-grab job. When Hell finished her shift Friday evening, she locked up as usual, securing the stores’ two heavily barred entrances and setting the security alarm.
“The security guy said they have seen many, many break-ins before, but nothing like this. This was professional,” Hell said.
The thieves cut through the wall from an adjacent hallway within the building and crept through a back storeroom. Once inside, they gained access to the store’s office by punching out ceiling tiles and climbing over the door frame.
Then someone tripped a motion alarm. From there, it appears the thieves rushed into the display and sales area and stuffed as many items as they could from two undisclosed locations within the store into a bag before running out the back door, leaving it wide open.
“They were in and out. It was very inconsiderate of them,” Hell said. “We could have been robbed twice.”
The theft came as a huge shock to her and store owner Charlotte Briemon, she said.
“This is a quiet town. We have bars on the windows and doors, we have a security system. You don’t expect something like this, certainly not something this deliberate.”
The crooks absconded with white and yellow gold nugget pendants, bangles, bracelets and rings, men’s white and yellow gold chains, and a diamond-studded gold nugget.
“It was close to two ounces, and filled with quartz. It was the size of a plum, and there were raw nuggets as well,” Hell said.
The RCMP are not releasing any information about the investigation because it is still ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the store at 668-7928 or the RCMP.
Contact Jesse Winter at
jessew@yukon-news.com
