BY JOHN DUNPHY
Staff Writer
EDISON – Police are on the lookout for a young couple who allegedly filched two diamond rings worth over $50,000 last week from a jewelry store at the Menlo Park Mall.
Police said the two suspects, a male and female, walked into the Bailey Banks and Biddle Jewelers at 9 p.m. on May 11. They approached an employee and asked to see two engagement rings, Sgt. Robert Dudash said.
The male was thin, black, roughly 6 feet tall and well-spoken. He wore a blue sweatsuit. The female, in her middle 20s, was thin, with long braided hair, a light brown complexion, and a tribal tattoo on her lower back. She wore a pink sweatsuit, according to the police report.
The store employee pulled out two rings – 2-carat round solitaire diamond rings with platinum settings – and handed them over to the suspects for inspection. One ring was valued at $29,000, while the other was valued at $23,000.
“That is a lot of money,” Dudash said.
The sergeant said the male suspect then asked to see a 3-carat ring, which was apparently locked in a safe area away from the display cases.
At this point, the male suspect directed the female to “go get his wallet,” Dudash said. Shortly after she left, the male suspect followed her, with the two 2-carat rings still in hand.
The employee then proceeded to chase the two alleged thieves through the mall and followed them to an exit near The Cheesecake Factory. The two made a right turn and headed under the front parking deck of the mall, he said.
“At this point, under the parking deck, the employee lost sight of the two suspects,” Dudash said. “They did get away with the two rings.”
Nobody was injured in the incident, he added.
Bailey Banks and Biddle Jewelers is an affiliate of the Zales Corp. It was not confirmed by any representative of Zales as to whether or not the cost of the two allegedly stolen rings would be covered under any form of insurance.