Caught on video: Thieves steal more than $100K in vintage jewelry from Orange store

ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) -- A jewelry store owner in Orange is asking for the public's help in finding the pair of crooks accused of snatching more than $100,000 in antique jewelry.

Surveillance video shows a woman in the store quickly grab a jewelry box and place it on a seat while store owner Samy Soliman was distracted.

"I went to get the phone from the desk, and [I had] my back to them and she pulled one of the boxes that she liked, and she put it on that seat," Soliman said.

The second suspect, a man, then puts the box in his shorts and covers it completely under his shirt.

Moments later, the two suspects walk right out the door.

"I didn't see her because her husband or her brother is standing in front of me. I didn't see she what she did. Then she switched with him. He took the box, put it in his underwear, covered it with this T-shirt," Soliman said.

The theft happened on Sept. 17 around 3:30 p.m. at OC Diamond Estate Jewelry on South Glassell Street.

The couple walked in and asked to look at rings.

"I have six boxes under my hand, and I have my elbow on top of the boxes because I doubted them," Soliman said. "I feel funny about them. They were very flashy."

He said his back wasn't turned for more than a second, but that was all the time the thieves needed.

The suspects walked out with an assortment of 84 vintage rings with a total value ranging from $120,000 to $150,000.

At first, Soliman said he didn't notice the box was missing until later that night.

"When I put the stuff into the safe - I am missing a box. I said 'Did I misplace it? Did I put it somewhere else? Am I forgetting things?' No. I kept looking until 12 o'clock."

It was while viewing his surveillance video with his son that they saw what the thieves had done.

Soliman went to the police and took to social media, hoping the attention would bring the suspects to justice.

This isn't his first time dealing with theft at his business. In the past four years his place has been broken into three times, but this is the first time anyone has robbed him from right under his own nose.

"I don't display now because I am worried. I am afraid," Soliman said. "I am hiding my stuff because I don't know what is going to happened next."