$500,000 Jewel Heist: Raiders Break in Through Bathroom
January 14, 26
(IDEX Online) - An armed gang stole goods from a jewelry store worth over $500,000 - after cutting through the bathroom wall of a vacant unit next door.
They lay in wait for five hours, from 4.50am, until the manager arrived later that morning (6 January) and opened Tio Jewelers, in Cape Coral, Florida, USA.
The raiders then attacked, zip-tied and pistol-whipped the man, and forced him to open the safe.
Within hours police arrested Ivel Sanchez Rivera, suspected of being the getaway driver, but two other men remain at large.
Police were initially alerted by the store owner's wife, who had remote access to the store's surveillance system.
According to federal documents more than $500,000 worth of merchandise, including necklaces, rings, watches, bracelets, and pendants, was taken, as well as the manager's $5,500 Breitling watch.
Screengrab of the bathroom from Tampa Bay 28 news channel.