PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL — The search is on tonight, for two men who robbed a jewelry store in broad daylight.
It’s the second such heist in four days.
This time, the thieves struck Palm Beach Gardens.
Bergman Jewelers just closed its doors at 6pm, after a frightening morning for two of its employees.
One of them spoke exclusively with Newschannel 5.
Tony Barba was smoking a cigarette outside the store, just after it opened at 10am. That’s when the worker’s troubles began.
“Before I knew it, there was a gun to my back and they told me to open the door,” said Barba. “They wanted all the jewelry and stuff like that, so they threw us in the bathroom and left.”
Jewelry store owner, Ray Bergman, says the other worker, Amelia, was terrified by the experience.
It’s an apparent sign of the times.
“I guess times are tough,” said Bergman. “There’s going to be a lot of this going. I don’t know. It happens every day, doesn’t it.”
Well, almost. Lee Havens was hit last Sunday, on the ritzy Worth Avenue in Palm Beach.
Its owner says one man tied everyone up inside then got away with 4 million dollars worth of the jewelry store’s most expensive items.
“I realized I was very shaken after he was gone and the police arrived,” said jewelry store owner Lee Havens. “That’s when I really became nervous. Prior to that I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just complying.”
Back at Bergman Jewelers, the owner says the thieves got away with less than $100,000 in jewels, cash and jewelry certificates.
Bergman say his store is equipped with top of the line security.
But the cameras did not catch anything, because of a glitch in the recording system.
“I’ve got 12 of them inside,” said Bergman. “Every few feet, there’s cameras. Whoever did it, really didn’t seem to be concerned.”
Meanwhile, everyone at the store is just grateful that no one was hurt.
“I was going to grab a gun,” said Barba. “But, I figured it wasn’t worth it. I’d probably get caught. This was more shocking than anything.”
The nearby Benjamin School was put on lockdown for about an hour while police searched for the suspects.
Source: www.wptv.com/news
