Sleight-of-hand thieves steal $10K worth of jewelry from Union Township store

<p>A pair of crafty thieves were able to walk away with an estimated $10,000 worth of gold chains from a Union Township jewelry shop. Jewelry Expo owner Niles Aykurt says that he has never been robbed in six years at the Route 22 location.  “I am disgusted, very disgusted. We work hard for our money,” Aykurt says. He says that two people came into the store posing as customers. A customer in a white hat seems to have distracted an employee, while a female customer put...</p>

News 12 Staff

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Apr 29, 2017, 1:04 AM

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Updated 2,818 days ago

Sleight-of-hand thieves steal $10K worth of jewelry from Union Township store

A pair of crafty thieves were able to walk away with an estimated $10,000 worth of gold chains from a Union Township jewelry shop.

Jewelry Expo owner Niles Aykurt says that he has never been robbed in six years at the Route 22 location.

“I am disgusted, very disgusted. We work hard for our money,” Aykurt says.

He says that two people came into the store posing as customers. A customer in a white hat seems to have distracted an employee, while a female customer puts two gold chains in the palm of her hand. She only returned one.

The crime was recorded on the store’s surveillance system. The woman is seen putting the chain into her purse. The pair would go on to do this four times over a 20-minute period.

"I’m getting the word out myself because this is not right. They think that we are millionaires,” Aykurt says. “We work like everybody else."

Aykurt says he thought that they were legitimate customers because part of the time the man in the white hat was holding money and also left a $100 cash deposit for jewelry he planned to come back for later.

Anyone who may recognize the customers is urged to call the Union Township police.