Courier takes a break, loses $500,000 in jewels

Somebody made off with $500,000 worth of jewels Tuesday afternoon when a courier took a break and parked his car on Mercer Island.

Authorities say this was likely not a lucky car prowl.

“It appears that this gentleman was probably staked out by some individuals and they waited for him to leave his vehicle unoccupied and got away with the jewelry,” said police detective Peter Erickson.

The theft happened in a busy part of Mercer Island in the middle of the afternoon. Surveillance cameras show a dark minivan stopping adjacent to the courier’s vehicle.

“This was in the parking lot of a large business building and there’s a restaurant there and adjacent to it is a care center and adjacent to that is a series of condominiums that are under construction with lots of construction workers around,” said Erickson, who hopes to talk to some witnesses.

It’s not clear how the thief or thieves targeted this man, if that’s the case.

“I would venture to guess that these individuals hang out near the jewelry stores or the jewelry marketing area and have an eye out for an individual who maybe has a bag and is going into these businesses,” Erickson speculated.

The jewelry belongs to a wholesale jewelry company in New York City and it will likely be taken out of the Seattle area.

“In the past, as I understand part of their M.O., is that the jewelry is basically shipped out of the area almost immediately,” said Erickson.