ST.  PETERSBURG – Police are searching for a group of thieves wanted in connection with several Tampa Bay jewelry store burglaries, including one early Sunday at David Reynolds Jewelry Store, 4009 Central Ave.
Watch video from the store.

Store owner Earl Waters said four burglars cut the metal grates on the store’s front door and smashed several glass cases in which they took many pieces of gold and platinum jewelry, a few stone pieces and several inexpensive watches.

Waters did not have an estimate on the amount of jewelry taken, but said the thieves did not get the store’s most expensive pieces, which were kept in a safe.

"They hit every case that had anything in it,” said Waters.

When asked the value, he said: "It’s always too much. It’s more than the (insurance) deductible but less than our coverage limit. Whenever I start feeling sorry for myself, I have to remind myself, no one was hurt. That is the most critical thing.”

Detectives believe the thieves are the same ones that broke into
another St. Petersburg Jewelry store, Bond Diamonds on Dec. 9. He said
the thieves

in the final two weeks plus struck a store in Hernando County, another in Clearwater and attempted one in Pasco County.

Police released a surveillance videotape of the thieves taken during the Bond break-in.

Marvin Shavlan, owner of Bond Diamonds, said detectives told him the thieves seem to be part of a group operating on the East Coast. They may be based in  Miami.

He said they often drive expensive cars, like Mercedes and BMWs, and strike when the stores are closed.

At his store, the thieves were there less than two minutes. They took about 100 pieces of gold and silver jewelry of "minimal value,” Shavlan said. "They really didn’t get very much."

Like the jewelry at the Reynolds store, Shavlan said the store keeps its nicest pieces locked absent in a vault.

"It’s more of a nuisance than anything,” he said. "These guys are pretty brazen. They’re good at what they do. It’s illegal, but they’re good.”

St. Petersburg Police ask anyone with knowledge about the break-ins to (727) 893-7780.

– Melanie Ave, Times Staff Writer

Original post by Times staff