Thieves Engineer Sophisticated Gem Heist in Chicago

[Hum]

Chicago - It was a jewelry heist right out of the movies -- a professional job that netted thieves a half-million dollars in precious gems at Steve Quick Jewelers in Lincoln Park near Clark and Fullerton.

The burglars broke into the jewelry store on Tuesday night through a common wall in the sushi restaurant next door. They were so smart and sophisticated, they didn't need to crack the safe. They just cut a hole through the back and escaped unseen with a haul of jewelry.

"Definitely straight out of Ocean's 11," said owner Melissa Quick. "They figured it out, they knew exactly how to get it, exactly how to do it."

After they broke into the sushi place, they cut a hole through the wall and crawled into the back corner of the jeweler's office, right behind the safe. It's the only only place not covered by security cameras or motion detectors.

"That person is either the luckiest criminal on the planet that happened to go in that space where the motion detector wouldn't pick him up -- and it's only not there because it's my desk area --or somehow they had some information," said owner Steve Quick.

Police told the owners it had to have been someone who had been in the backroom before and knew the security soft spot. The most intriguing item left behind: an ice bucket full of beer.

"They had been using the beer to cool the saw blade. The metal got hot enough so that it could burn whatever's inside the safe, so they were pouring beer on the saw blade to keep it cool," said Steve Quick.

On Thursday, employees took inventory of what was left behind, and tried to get the store ready to reopen.Nothing belonging to customers was taken because those items were in a different safe. The burglars only managed to take items stored on the two bottom shelves of the safe, and they were quite picky.

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[Farstrider]

Definitely sounds like an inside job! Perhaps one the people who installed the security system?

[Twiddle]

Kinda neat, although bad...

[xendrome]

"Definitely straight out of Ocean's 11," said owner Melissa Quick. "They figured it out, they knew exactly how to get it, exactly how to do it."

Lulz.. yea really hard to figure this one out, must have taken months of planning and watching the whole trilogy at least twice.