Police searching for person who stole $43K in jewelry from 2 P.E.I. stores

Two police forces on Prince Edward Island are searching for the culprit who made off with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of items from local jewelry stores.

Charlottetown and Summerside police believe they're dealing with the same person who stole expensive items from Charm Diamond Centre locations in both cities.

The first theft happened Sept. 1 at the Charm location in the Royalty Crossing mall in Charlottetown.

Police said a man entered the store and asked to see two rings. While staff were distracted, the man left with the jewelry in his hand.

"I'm sure it's a normal practice of staff to hand over rings for potential customers to view," said Det.-Sgt. Darren MacDougall of the Charlottetown police."This individual just subsequently turned and exited the store with the rings in his possession."

MacDougall said the combined value of the two rings was $18,000.

After store staff called 911, police obtained surveillance video footage of a man leaving in a black BMW 300-series vehicle that investigators later determined to have a stolen P.E.I. licence plate.

Second theft in Summerside

Just over a week later, on Sept. 9, Summerside police issued a news release about a similar theft from the Charm location in the County Fair Mall.

Police saida man had gone into that store at around 1:30 p.m., and fled with two rings after he asked to look at them. The jewelry wasvalued at a total of $25,000, according to the news release.

Tracking down a man who's been stealing valuable rings from Island jewelry stores

21 days ago

Duration 2:58

Charlottetown police Det.-Sgt. Darren MacDougall says a man walked into Charm Diamond Centre in Charlottetown on Sept. 1 and asked to see two rings. He then walked out with the rings, which had a total value of around $18,000. Similar incidents happened at Charm Diamond Centre locations in Summerside and Halifax.

Summerside police said the manwas around five feet 10 inches with a medium build and salt-and-pepper hair.

Echoing what happened in Charlottetown, the suspect was seen getting into a black BMW witha P.E.I. licence plate that had been reported stolen from a Summerside-area hotel parking lot earlier in the day.

Police are searching for a second suspect in the Summerside case: a woman with blonde hair who was driving the BMW.

After leaving the County Fair Mall area, police said the suspects stopped at the Granville Street Esso, pumped gas into the BMW, and left without paying.

MacDougall said police are also investigating a theft from yet another Charm Diamond Centrein Halifax in late August, and they believe all three incidents are connected.

Police have identified a person of interest in the thefts andcontinue to investigate, he said.

CBC News reached out to the Charm Diamond Centreshead office in Dartmouth, N.S., but did not hear back from anyone.

The value of these items would suggest that there should be mechanisms in place to protect against this sort of theft. Det-Sgt. Darren MacDougall, Charlottetown police

MacDougall urgedstaff working at jewelry stores to take extra precautions to prevent this kind of theft.

"These items are worth a lot of money, and giving somebody the ability to simply manoeuvre like the offender in this circumstancedid yeah, you would certainly want to look at your practices as far as what you're handing over and how you engage the client in that type of scenario," he said.

"The value of these items would suggest that there should be mechanisms in place to protect against this sort of theft."