EAST BRUNSWICK – A theft was reported at a jewelry store inside the Brunswick Square Mall for the second time in as many months last weekend.
The theft of a diamond engagement ring valued at $1,500 was reportedly committed by three people, two of whom distracted employees while the third took the merchandise, at 6:49 p.m. Saturday.
The first suspect, a black female around 18 years of age, walked in alone and asked numerous questions of a store employee, drawing attention away from the diamond ring case.
As this encounter was taking place, a black male – described as being short, bald and in his early 20s, with acne scars on his face and wearing large gold-rimmed glasses and a black zip-up sweatshirt and a white T-shirt – entered the store and asked another employee if he could view several rings from the diamond ring case.
A short time later, a second black male entered. He was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, in his mid 20s, wearing a navy blue hooded zip-up sweatshirt and a white T-shirt. As the first two suspects distracted the employees, the third one entered one of the display cases and removed the diamond ring.
All three suspects then left the store. Suspicious of the way the suspects appeared to be trying to distract them, the staff conducted an audit and discovered that the ring was missing.
East Brunswick police responded and obtained the security video for review. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Eric Raps of the East Brunswick Police Department’s Investigative Division at (732) 390-6990.
A similar theft took place in March at the same store, also on a Saturday evening. At that time, two women described as black females distracted store employees by asking to inspect jewelry items, while a man described as a black male in his 30s reportedly took five diamond rings with a total value of $12,000 to $18,000 from a display case. The trio left the store as employees caught on to the scheme and called the police.
Police said there was no evidence to indicate that the two incidents are related.