November 6, 2010

A jewelry store heist in the Northeast Valley. Phoenix Police Sgt. Darren Burch says it was just before 10:00 a.m. on October 12th, 2010, when a man walked into the store.

"The suspect initially pretends to be a customer and then very quickly produces a black handgun, forces the owner into a backroom where he ties him up," Burch said.

The victim's son tells the rest of the story.

"He took everything in the safe. His keys, his wallet, and he took the vehicle also," he said.

It was his dad who was tied up at gunpoint, his father's car was later found, but not the crook or the jewelry.

"This jewelry store was brand new, we just moved from the West-Valley to this store on Scottsdale Road and Acoma," the son said. "It was not even open yet, there was no sign at the front, the store was closed. We had not opened the store to the public at all."

His father had just purchased all of the jewelry for the store.

"We didn't have an alarm system in place yet or insurance because you can't get insurance on the jewelry until you have an alarm system," the son said.

Burch said it appears the robber knew what he was doing.

"To spend 20-30 minutes inside a jewelry store is very uncommon," he said. "To take the time to bound a victim, to incapacitate them gives us an indicator that this guy has done this before."

The son feels bad for what happened to his family.

"Everything they've worked for their lives, it's almost $500,000 lost of his money, not retail value, retail value is a lot more than that," he said.

But, he's glad his dad was not shot, saying it could have been worse.

So now police are searching for the suspect.

"He is a Hispanic male, in his mid-30s, five-foot-seven, just under two-hundred pounds with a roundish face and a mustache," Burch said.

Burch warns that the suspect will do this again until he is caught.

If you have any information please call 480-WITNESS or go to silentwitness.org.