Sheriff: Thieves Steal $500K In Jewelry At Rest Stop Near Rochester
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It sounds like a plot from the movies: A group of thieves make off with $500,000 worth of jewelry. It didn't happen on a Hollywood set, but at a rest stop on a Minnesota highway.
Police say the four robbers targeted a van traveling through Minnesota from a trade show in Chicago.
It happened just after midnight on I-90 in Olmsted County, between Eyota and Highway 52.
It was another night at work at the Marion rest stop for Charles Lemke, until he learned about a robbery unfolding outside.
"They come running, screaming, 'We're being robbed,'" Lemke said. "Kind of put me in a panic."
Investigators say the owner of a precious metal and diamond company, along with six employees, pulled into the rest stop along I-90. A few got out to go inside, two stayed with the van.
"Then another van pulled in quickly behind them, and four males--we think they were males--smashed the back windows out and took three to four suitcase-type cases that contained miscellaneous jewelry-type pieces--gold, silver pendants and loose diamonds," Olmsted Co. Sheriff's Capt. Scott Behrns said.
The group was traveling from Chicago, on their way to Spirit Lake, Iowa. Behrns said the robbers were no dummies.
"It certainly is feasible that they followed these people from Chicago," Behrns said. "Or it could be as simple as they followed them from Chicago and smashed the windows and grabbed whatever they could in a short time frame. Almost unbelievable, but it's true, right out of Hollywood happening here in rural Olmsted Co."
Behrns said the robbers pulled off the jewelry heist in less than 90 seconds.
"This sounds like it was a well-coordinated plan, and I'll call it an attack," Behrns said. "They pulled it off."
One thing did slow the robbers down. The driver of the van backed up fast, crashing into and damaging the suspect's van. That van was found dumped on the side of I-90 about a mile away and is now evidence.
Behrns believes the robbers had someone else pick them up. He's requested the help of the FBI.
