$220,000 Stolen From Yuba City Home In Christmas Burglary
YUBA CITY (CBS13) — A Yuba City family is still coming to grips with a massive loss, and they believe whoever broke into their home watched as they left for a Christmas dinner.
The total damage is still being assessed, but at least $220,000 in cash and jewelry is gone.
"We think we were targeted because it happened within 45 minutes (of leaving)," Jesse Shanker said.
"They took everything except they left these empty boxes," Manjit Shanker told CBS13 on Tuesday.
The jewelry boxes are bare and their home has been left with broken-down doors.
The thieves used a crowbar to shatter a glass door and somehow crawled beneath the home alarm's motion detector to go after the small fortune.
"There's nothing that they left, not even my fake jewelry," Manjit Shanker said.
They had $70,000 in cash, some set aside for a planned real estate transaction, and an estimated $150,000 in gold. The Shankers believe they were targeted because their Indian culture is known to pass down valuable heirlooms.
"That's our custom, on weddings, we give gold out to our daughters-in-law, sons-in-laws and stuff," Manjit Shanker said.
"Right now we have nothing. They have taken every single thing we have," Jesse Shanker said.
The Shankers said they learned a valuable lesson from the heartless heist, and hope other people seeing their story will take precautions to avoid a similar fate.
"Do not totally trust your alarm system, because those people know how to manipulate the system," Jesse said. "Take care of your things and if you have valuables, put them in the bank."
The Shankers are still waiting on police to process fingerprints to find out if there are any matches. Based on the damage in their home, the family believes a team of up to eight people may have broken in. They're hoping someone saw something suspicious will come forward.
