When a city gets bigger so does the crine. This happens in cities like Atlanta and Miami, not Memphis. Who would have thought a jewelry store in a mall in Memphis would have seventy-five Rolex watches in stock? That sounds like a whole year's inventory. Wolfchase Security, MPD and SCSD don't know what hit them. The whole thing was over before they were alerted. Therefore neither department is coming forward with new details. They have no pictures or descriptions to begin an investigation. They don't know whether the suspects were black or white. They disappeared like puffs of smoke.
The last time we had something this big was when the Wells Fargo employees stole the entire Thanksgiving deposit. They got clean away, and got into it over a woman. That still is the biggest caper ever pulled off in Memphis. Even though they eventually got caught. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing. It took patience and planning. Not like the pond scum who robbed and killed the pawn shop owner for stuff he was going to sell by the piece. The streets of Memphis will never see these watches again. These people have a buyer with lots of money. Ar this level it isn't robbery. This was a heist.
ReplyDeleteNew details from a police report on Saturday’s smash-and-grab jewelry store heist show the suspects left behind a cellphone and at least two hammers during their hasty escape from Wolfchase Galleria.
Employees at Reeds Jewelers told police that they were standing inside the store Saturday at 7:39 p.m. when they heard a loud smash and immediately dropped to the floor to take cover. They watched as five or six suspects dressed in black shattered display cases with hammers, emptying them of 65 Rolex watches.
One of the suspects was overheard talking on a phone at the time of the theft — which netted $715,000 worth of loot — saying, “You didn’t get any diamonds?”
Police later recovered a cellphone dropped by one of the suspects and two hammers from the scene Saturday night.
Despite the items left behind, it’s a heist one criminologist says has all the hallmarks of a professional hit, rather than the kind of opportunistic crime that accounts for most Memphis thefts.
The men had a clear and well-scouted getaway path through the north and south mall exits near Sears, emerging though the employee tunnels at loading dock four. That’s where three of the men jumped into a gray minivan and at least two others got into a red sedan, according to the police report.
“My guess is that these guys are more experienced and more professional than just the average street criminal,” said retired University of Memphis professor Richard Janikowski. “This took some planning, some coordination. Particularly since they were going into a mall. That’s not the easiest place to escape from.”
At some point during their exit, the men might have ditched a few more items that were later found by a maintenance worker outside the mall.
On Sunday, police got a call from a man who’d discovered the items while sweeping and blowing leaves in the parking lot. The man, who worked for Aardvark Sweeping Service, found a hammer wrapped with duct tape, a tan and white glove and a tan T-shirt in the bushes. The worker called his boss, who called police, and the items were being examined as possible evidence.
MPD has not yet released surveillance video of the suspects, but the report says one of the hoods slipped off one of the men’s heads, giving a victim a quick glance at him.
Despite the very high prices on the luxury watches, black market sales will likely yield the thieves only a fraction of their value on the street, Janikowski said.
“Figure even if they get 25 cents on the dollar for them, that’s not too bad. When you look at most bank robberies, most bank robbers don’t get that much,” he said.
Anyone hoping to sell the Rolexes would likely already have a fence, or a buyer, lined up to purchase them, Janikowski said.
Most jewelers agree that Rolexes, because of their high value and the association of the brand name as a status symbol, are some of the easiest goods to move when stolen.
“It may turn out that these guys are locals and they either read about something or watched a movie, you never know,” Janikowski said. “If they’re locals, they’re going to have a fence or two they’ve identified. If they’re real pros they’re going to have fences they’ve developed over the years... people who can move the product, possibly overseas.”
The Memphis theft bore striking resemblance to several other smash-and-grab Rolex heists in Atlanta, Atlantic City and Washington within the past year.
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