Crew of burglars seen celebrating jewelry heist in West Hollywood
Surveillance camera footage captured the moments that a burglary crew celebrated their score during a jewelry heist in West Hollywood in earlier June.
According to owners of Huener's Jewelry store, located in the 7900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, they were hit on June 17, or Father's Day, when the group of burglars broke into the store at around 3 a.m.
They say that the burglary lasted for more than 24 hours, during which time they cut open two safes and stole everything from inside.
"It's hard to watch, seeing everything, kind of like, in front of your eyes being taken," said Robert Goukasian, the co-owner of Huener's.
Video shows as the group of four burglars high five and hug inside of the store as they ransack the inside of a safe.
"They were having fun, it looks like, you know, hugging each other, high fiving each other, celebrating," Goukasian said.
Owners say that the store's alarm system failed to send them any alerts about the burglary, and despite their requests the company has not yet provided a reason for the alleged malfunction, just saying that there was some sort of communication failure.
Goukasian also says that they got in by cutting holes through the wall of the vacant property next door to the jewelry store.
"They crawled in through there with their high-powered blow torches," Goukasian said. "They broke one metal door that leads to the safe room."
He says that on top of the damage left behind and the total loss of the burglary, what might hurt the most is having to rebuild the store that his father put so much into.
"My dad moved from the Soviet Union in Armenia in 1979 to create a new life," he said, noting that a few years later he was able to buy the shop and turn it into what it is today. "He bought an empty store, basically. No inventory, so he was working day and night making jewelry."
wDespite Goukasian's reports that both the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are looking into the matter, both departments say they have not received any reports.
