A Valley business owner is furious after a sneaky smash-and-grab burglary that happened right under the nose of customers and employees.
Amanda Wilson owns Antique Gatherings at 36th Street and Indian School Road. On Sunday afternoon, she said two women came into the store, walked to a locked jewelry case at the back of the store and broke it open.
“People that steal are horrible people,” said Wilson, who thinks the two women had no idea they were caught on surveillance camera.
The pilfering pair got away, but left a lot of video evidence for Wilson and police to look over.
Wilson said it appears one woman acted as a lookout. The other woman kicked the wooden leg of the jewelry case to break the frame open. Once the door is unlocked, the video shows the second woman taking several antique costume jewelry items and placing them into her purse.
“We work too hard to have that happen,” said Wilson. “When they're breaking [wooden] legs to get into things — that's pretty extreme.”
The woman got away with nearly $2,000 worth of jewelry.
Wilson said it looks like the women knew exactly what they were doing and have probably done this before. She warned other antique businesses in the area and filed a report with Phoenix police. She’s also personally offering a $500 reward for anybody who can help identify the women in the video.
