Two women posing as jewelry shoppers switched two fake rings for two real diamond rings worth $10,000 at a downtown Miami store, police said Friday.
The Nov. 16 heist at Buchwald Jewelers Inc. inside the Seybold Building at 36 Northeast 1st St. was caught on camera.
The two women walked into the store at about 4:30 p.m., Miami Police said. Smiling, the women asked to look at an assortment of rings sitting inside a glass display case.
"These two women pretend to be interested in various diamond rings. They sit, down speak to the store clerk, and he starts pulling out different ring trays," said police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes.
In the store’s surveillance video, the store clerk can be seen wiping down the glass display case so they can get a better look. But police said the duo was only pretending to be interested in buying the bling.
"In a 10-minute span what they did was switch two phony rings for real ones and they were just able to casually walk out," Reyes said.
As the clerk took a second to inspect a piece of jewelry, the woman in the pink sweater swiftly switched out the rings with some fast hand movements before anyone was able to miss them, police said.
"These two women had this planned out," Reyes said.
The surveillance video is pretty crisp. Police need the public’s help to identify the alleged thieves. The woman in a white dress and pink sweater is described as being heavyset, about 5 feet 6 inches, and was wearing glasses. Her alleged accomplice is described as being about 5 feet 9 inches and also heavyset. She was wearing a blue dress, a black purse, and had on dark sunglasses.
Police ask anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.