A man and a woman, with a young girl in tow, are wanted in connection with the theft of a $20,000 ring from a Los Angeles jewelry store.
The distraction-style theft, which was caught on the store’s surveillance cameras, unfolded on the evening of April 9 at U Los Angeles Jewelry in the Westfield Shopping Mall in Century City.
The owner of the jewelry store told KTLA that the couple entered the shop at around 7 p.m., browsed the display cases and asked to look at merchandise.
In footage of the incident, the female suspect is seen standing in front of a display case with what appears to be velvet board holding several necklaces next to the store employee. It then looks like the male suspect, somewhere behind the woman, asks a question of the salesperson.
As the shop employee briefly turns her attention to the male, the female suspect is seen deftly plucking an item, a ring worth $20,000, out of the display case. She then hides the jewelry piece by pretending to run her hands through her hair.
Video later show the female suspect putting something into her purse as the couple continue to browse.
In another instance, video shows the female suspect standing behind the male when she puts her hand into a different display case, though the owner of the shop said his employee saw her and nothing was taken that time.
It’s unclear if that attempt was before or after the successful distraction theft.
The salesperson, who did not want to be named, told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff said the couple was using the young girl as a type of decoy.
“The kid was definitely, like, running around to where the mom was saying, ‘Stop, stop, stop,’ so that’s throwing me off,” she explained. “I don’t want the kid running around, getting hurt, things of that nature.”
Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department have reviewed the video footage and are investigating. The couple was seen exiting the mall on foot and leaving the area.
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