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Thieves Break Into Store, Take Cubic Zirconia Rings

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thieves who broke into a Long Lake, Minn. jewelry store overnight may be disappointed with their loot.

Police said someone broke into an Albers Jewelry store on Wayzata Boulevard early Friday morning.

The owners said the thieves got away with some wedding rings, but they were cubic zirconia and silver.

"It's a little bit of a job every night and every day to take it out and put it way, but it's part of our insurance requirement they want 85 percent of the valuables and all the customers goods to be put in a safe place," owner Terry Albers said.

The company's more expensive jewelry is locked away overnight.

NewsRadio 830 WCCO's Steve Murphy Reports

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The owners said it looks like the same operation as the jewelry store thefts they've seen recently in Wayzata, Minn.

Police are looking at surveillance video in an attempt to identify suspects.

Now investigators must determine if the thieves caught on video burglarizing Dan Gould Jewelers in Anoka back on Jan. 19, 2011, and two other burglaries in Wayzata, also caught on video, are the ones responsible for smashing and grabbing fake jewels in Long Lake.

"It's really early in the investigation for us to draw that conclusion certainly we are looking at that as a possibility," said Wayzata Police Chief Michael Risvold.

One thing investigators do mention is the mode of operation is similar..

They get in, smash display cases to get access to jewelry and are out of the store in minutes.

"If this is not connected to another we are working on this case, individual but if it's connected there are literally dozens of investigators trying to put this crime spree to a halt," Risvold said.

Police say they were proactive when the first jewelry store was burglarized in Wayzata by meeting with all seven stores in the area to warn them about this alarming pattern.

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