$750,000 in jewels are stolen

Tuesday, June 3, 2003 | 9:55 a.m.

Thieves stole an estimated $750,000 worth of jewels from an exhibition at the Sands Convention Center on Monday.

Metro Police said one suspect was in custody.

The daylight heist from the convention center involved at least five people, police said. Metro officers were looking for four other suspects.

An entire 3-foot-long case full of jewels was taken from the exhibit hall, police said. Metro would not describe the types of jewelry taken, and the jewelry has not been recovered.

It was similar to a robbery that occurred last year when $1.5 million was taken in a similar theft, police said. None of the stolen jewels were recovered in that case and no arrests were made.

In December 2002, a one-of-a-kind 96-carat platinum necklace with 2,000 Russian diamonds and rare black coral from the western Caribbean worth $1 million was stolen from the Bernard K. Passman Gallery at The Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes.

There were at least three jewelry thefts from hotel jewelry stores in 2002, according to police reports. And in the last four months of last year, thieves stole more than $2.1 million in jewelry in seven different heists in Las Vegas, according to the Jewelers' Security Alliance.

Most Read
Discussed
Most E-mailed

Complete Listing

Live chat: Tuesday, noon PST; Chat with Krista Creelman; Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question