CLERMONT, Fla. — Investigators are looking into whether two elaborate jewelry heists, both committed in Central Florida this year, were related.
Police said burglars stole more than $750,000 worth of merchandise from a jewelry store in Clermont in January. Police said the investigation into that case was inactive until a similar case, in which $400,000 worth of jewelry was stolen, happened last week in Longwood.
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Investigators said they are taking a second look at the Clermont case that happened at the Village Goldsmith on West Colonial Drive near 7th Street back in January.
Neighbors said the thieves cut power to the store and used a wench on a vehicle to pry a metal grate off the window. Once they got in, they used all kinds of tools to cut through a safe and through a wall to a neighboring business.
The Village Goldsmith closed up shop about a month after the burglary.
In the more recent Longwood case, thieves cut their way through the ceiling into Certified Jewelry Designs. They cut through a reinforced wall into a vault and stole nearly $400,000 in jewelry.
Read: High-priced heist: Video shows thieves stealing more than $500,000 in jewelry
Clermont police are looking at the similarities and said they will speak to Longwood police to find out if there’s a connection between the two cases.
“Don’t discredit any information,” said Lt. Malcolm Draper with the Clermont Police Department. “We will follow up on any investigative lead that we can to try to get these perpetrators.”
Photos: $750K in jewelry stolen from Clermont shop in elaborate heist
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