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Westec Alarm Company ignores alarm while burglars empty jewelry store www.privateofficer.com
The Zales Jewelry store at the Edinburgh Outlet Mall off I-65 is missing cases of watches, necklaces and gold after three robbers used a stolen white Oldsmobile and a red service truck to ram through the front of the store and bend the steel gate protecting the store inside. It happened Friday morning at 3:57am. The front doors made of glass were broken and the frames removed.
“They were in there about four minutes, it was a big heist,” said Det. David Lutz, with Edinburgh police.
Police say the robbers made away with a large amount of jewelry by 4:01a.m. he says they were out of the store. They made several attempts to break in using the stolen cars.
“The oldsmobile wasn’t big enough, so they used the truck to smash into the front of the store,” said Det Lutz.
Numerous cases had been broken, though police say the thieves did not get into the safe.
“They had masks on and wore gloves and went in with white bags,” said Det Lutz. “The alarm went off at 4:10am but the security company(Westec) dismissed the call so police were never called.”
An Edinburgh mall employee saw the condition of the store Friday at 6a.m. and called police.
Fox59 contacted Westec but their spokesperson said they were still looking into what happened. Their command center where operators monitor alarms from across the country is based in Des Monies.
The red truck used in the heist was stolen from the nearby Harley-Davidson parking lot. The truck is a service truck the store uses. It was left running along with the white Oldsmobile behind the Zales.
The truck’s steering wheel was broken along with the Oldsmobile which was hot wired and stolen from a nearby apartment complex. The olds was also left running behind the Zales. The thieves apparently had a getaway car.
The Suspects were caught in the act on surveillance video from a cosmetics store right next to Zales. Police are hoping the video will lead to tips in the case. Zales also has some video equipment but so far police have been unable to obtain the tape.
