Three burglars steal more than $500k in jewelry from Park Avenue store, police say
Three burglars steal more than $500k in jewelry from Park Avenue store, police say | Daniel Valls/FreedomNews.tv, NYPD

SEE IT: $500k Park Avenue Jewelry Store Smash & Grab Caught on Camera

Sixty seconds was all it took for a trio of thieves armed with a sledgehammer to smash their way into a high-end Park Avenue jewelry store and walk out with more than half a million dollars worth of sparkling merchandise early Saturday morning, police say.

The burglars smashed their way through two glass doors at Cellini Jewelers | NYPD
The burglars smashed their way through two glass doors at Cellini Jewelers | NYPD
The burglars used a sledgehammer to smash their way into Cellini Jewelers on Park Avenue
The burglars used a sledgehammer to smash their way into Cellini Jewelers on Park Avenue | Daniel Valls/FreedomNews.tv

Surveillance video taken from Cellini Jewelers, located at 430 Park Avenue, between East 55th and 56th Streets, shows one of the three suspects use the sledgehammer to destroy not one, but two glass doors at the entrance of the Midtown shop just after 3:30 am Saturday — while the store was closed and no one was inside.

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After being shattered with the sledgehammer, video shows that a few kicks was all it took for the first glass door to give way. The second glass door failed even faster, when one of the smash and grab suspects shoved it with his full body weight and nearly fell down when the door collapsed forward.

One burglar nearly falls smashing the second glass door open | NYPD
One burglar nearly falls smashing the second glass door open | NYPD

The three burglars — clad in hoodies, masks and gloves, so they wouldn’t leave any fingerprints behind — are seen in surveillance video moving lightning fast through the luxury shop, making a beeline for specific display cases and bashing them open, then grabbing all the high end jewelry that was locked inside.

The burglars used a sledgehammer to smash open display cases at Cellini Jewelers | NYPD
The burglars used a sledgehammer to smash open display cases at Cellini Jewelers | NYPD

Timecode on the surveillance video released by the NYPD late Saturday shows it took the thieves one minute flat to get in and out of the store with the loot. Detectives say the jewelry taken was worth more than $500,000. However, police say a full inventory of the stolen items is still underway — so that figure could climb even higher. 

Jewelry dropped by the burglars were on the floor mixed with broken glass
Jewelry dropped by the burglars were on the floor mixed with broken glass | Daniel Valls/FreedomNews.tv
The burglars are seen smashing open display cases and swiping $500k in jewelry | NYPD
The burglars are seen smashing open display cases and swiping $500k in jewelry | NYPD

In the Manhattan’s Midtown North Precinct, covering areas west of Lexington Avenue below East 59th Street, burglaries have increased 12% year-to-year, according to NYPD crime reporting data. 

ALSO READ | UES ‘Mailbox Fishing’ Suspects Caught Red-Handed with $84k in Checks: NYPD

That’s far smaller an increase both the citywide average which has jumped 30%, as well as the Upper East Side’s 20% increase in reported burglaries this year. 

Surveillance video via NYPD | Subscribe

If you recognize the suspects wanted in this smash and grab burglary or have any information that could help police, you’re asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477.

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2 Comments

  1. Why was the merchandise still in the cases? Was there a silent alarm that went off? How were they able to get in and out so fast? These upstanding citizens that are robbing this city blind always wear sweatshirts with hoodies (even during the summer), are wearing masks and are in and out of stores very quickly. Hopefully however they escaped (usually a car waiting) can be identified. This insanity has got to stop.

    • Under Governor Hochul the crime will continue because she doesn’t care and favors criminals along with DA Alvin Bragg. Unless the people in NYC wake-up and realize that the Democratic Party is for socialism and woke policies, our city and state will go under very badly. I’m a registered Democrat and understand this isn’t the same party of yesteryears. We can’t continue to have one party rule and now must vote for Republican Lee Zeldin for governor. He is committed to firing Alvin Bragg the first day in office and is for law and order. Crime, inflation, and socialism are the main issues.

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