Police search for Monroe jewelry store thief - Times Herald-Record
MONROE - Police are studying video recordings from surveillance cameras in downtown Monroe to try to identify a burglar who smashed the front door and display cases at a Lake Street jewelry store last week and fled with about $68,000 in merchandise.
The heist happened a little before 4 a.m. Thursday at Monroe Jewelers, a family-owned business located in Monroe since the 1940s. Detective Luke Fremgen of the Village of Monroe police said Tuesday that a surveillance video shows a man smashing the glass door, entering the store with a container and leaving a minute later. The store alarm alerted the police, who found an empty store strewn with broken glass when they arrived.
Fremgen said he has reviewed videos from cameras in five separate locations and has others to watch. He said the thief's face is partly obscured in the videos he has reviewed.
Kevin Lesser, a third-generation owner of the mainstay business, said Tuesday that thief snatched estate jewelry, gold chains and charms, and pearls from display cases along a wall near the smashed door.
The front door was quickly repaired and the broken glass cleaned up for Monroe Jewelers to reopen by afternoon on the day of the burglary. The store is in the midst of its busiest shopping season.
Lesser's grandfather founded the business in New York City in 1921 and later moved it to Monroe. It is the last of the longtime, family-owned businesses on the village's main shopping strip.
cmckenna@th-record.com
