Thieves steal millions from El Monte jewelry store by breaking in through roof

EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) -- A local family-owned jewelry store is in shambles after thieves took almost everything in a million-dollar heist. Now, they're trying to rebuild.

This is not the first time that Meza's Jewelry on Main Street in El Monte has been targeted by thieves. But this time, they got away with much more.

The store's owners tell Eyewitness News that when they showed up on Sunday morning, they realized the store's entire back room had been cleared out.

The owner believes the suspects got in through the roof and crawled down through the ceiling to get into the back room off the shop.

They got away with gold and jewelry worth well over $1 million.

The thieves even put blankets up so people on the street couldn't see what they were doing.

The shop owners say every night, they put all of their valuables in a few large safes in the back room, and that's exactly what the thieves targeted.

The alarms on the safes went off around 9 p.m., shortly after they closed, but the security company apparently never contacted police.

The owners believe the suspects spent the entire night in the back room, and there could be up to five suspects.

"The alarm system went off at 9 p.m., and then in one of the videos, we see them leaving our shop at 5:40 a.m.," said Israel Meza.

The store has been around for about five years. It was targeted once before in 2023 in an attempted smash-and-grab with far less successful results.

The family that owns the shop was all there when it happened and jumped into action, beating the would-be thief before he ran off empty-handed. It was all captured on surveillance video.

The thieves from Sunday morning's heist stole every piece of security equipment inside the business, so the owners have no video to show of the crime.

Thankfully, other businesses along Main Street have cameras, and the thieves may have been caught as they loaded the goods into their vehicle.

Eyewitness News has covered multiple, similar jewelry store robberies across the Los Angeles area in recent weeks, including hits in Encino, Simi Valley, and Glendale.

READ MORE:
Blowtorch burglars hit another jewelry store in Encino, cutting hole through shared wall

The thieves got in by breaking into a vacant storefront next door. They then cut a hole in the shared wall and used a blowtorch to get into the safes.

4 arrested in multi-million dollar, 'sophisticated' jewelry store burglary in Simi Valley

Four suspects have been arrested in what authorities called a highly-sophisticated burglary at a family-owned jewelry store in Simi Valley.

Glendale jewelry store completely wiped out by thieves who broke in through the roof

A Glendale jewelry store was cleaned out by thieves who came in through the ceiling. The theft has similarities to another jewelry store robbery in Simi Valley.