Thieves get away with large jewelry stash

Andrew Glazer

NEWPORT BEACH -- Four thieves snatched jewels valued at a

quarter-million dollars from a parked car Wednesday and sped away before

police could catch them.

Florida-based jewelry dealers Samuel Keeble and Deborah Brown were

making a sales call in Newport Beach at about 5 p.m. when the four

suspects broke a window in their rented black 2000 Honda Accord, opened

the trunk and took several cases containing pearls and diamond rings and

necklaces, police said. The suspects drove away in a newer, white

Chevrolet Malibu, witnesses told officers.

Keeble and Brown are sales representatives for Asba & Dangler Designs

Inc.

It took the thieves no more than 30 seconds to grab the loot before

screeching from the parking lot at 3433 Via Lido, police said.

Authorities are looking for four suspects, who are described as

well-groomed men in their 30s.

The thieves, like many others in Southern California in recent years,

probably followed the salespeople from a shop and waited for an opportune

moment to break into the car, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott.

“They were very good, but compared to other burglaries, this one’s

pretty simple,” McDermott said.

He said thieves in the past have made a small puncture on the tires of

cars driven by jewelry salespeople and followed them until they pulled

over.

Others have simply waited until the victims were alone and robbed them

at gunpoint.

Police typically are not successful in recovering jewels after this

type of burglary, McDermott said.

“By now, they’ve probably fenced it somewhere way out of town or out

of the country,” he said.

He said stolen property typically sells for one-tenth its actual

value.

A spokeswoman from Asba & Dangler Designs Inc. of Sarasota, Fla., said

they didn’t know enough about the incident to comment.