Police: Jewelry Store Burglar Broke Hole In Plate Glass, Crawled Through
BALTIMORE (WJZ) - Baltimore County Police are asking for help in identifying the thief of a jewelry store in Towson the week before Christmas.
The crime was caught on surveillance cameras -- police are hoping the video will help catch the culprit.
A thief takes a hammer and breaks the front glass window to get himself into Popular Jewelry and Loan on Joppa Road in Towson.
Manager Kevin says the suspect may have been disabled or drunk even, as the videotape shows him hobbling up the walkway before falling into the store through the broken window.
The suspect "Climbs into the store, and walks around the store knocking out the glass in some of the cases," says Baltimore County Police spokesman Detective Corporal John Wachter.
Police and managers at the jewelry store are still tallying up what he got away with -- most of the jewelry is stored in the safe at night.
But, they think that maybe $5 to $10 thousand dollars worth of rings, watches and chains were taken from glass cases on the store floor.
But the jewelry is only part of the cost. The cases cost more than what he took. The thief is seen in the video using his hammer to whack at the glasses to break them open -- but manager Kevin says the cases are left open, so you don't even have to break into them.
This is a family-owned neighborhood business, and they believe whoever this guy is, someone will recognize him
"Someone will be able to recognize him if they know him well. He has a very specific walk, he's smoking while he's doing all of this," says Corporal Wachter.
One thing is certain --after this heist, every night after closing, employees now spend an extra 10 minutes to lock up all of the jewelry in the safe and not leave it in the cases.
"A lot of our customers have called and asked what they can do to help out and you know, I appreciate that, it means a lot that means a lot that our customers feel just as violated as we do," says Kevin.
The incident is under investigation by Baltimore County Police. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-307-2020 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
