$3.5M in jewels stolen from Temecula business

TEMECULA, Calif. (KABC) -- A thief used a power saw and a jackhammer to break into a safe at a jewelry store, making off with approximately $3.5 million in property.

Diamonds by Monet, a family-owned business, has been in Temecula for 22 years.

Much of the heist, which took place eight days ago, was caught on surveillance tape. The owners say they've never seen anything like this before.

"Anybody who watches this is not going to believe that this is real. It's like something watching something out of a movie," said Musa Hattar, the store owner's brother.

He said watching the surveillance video makes him sick. Hattar said the thief stole more than $3.5 million in retail jewelry.

The suspect entered the restaurant next door by cutting a hole on the roof. Then, the suspect cut through a wall to gain access into the office containing the jewelry store's safe.

Using a cardboard box, the suspect made a make-shift wall, perhaps to prevent the motion sensor from going off.

The surveillance video then shows the suspect using a power saw to cut through the safe. But with eight-inch steel and concrete walls, it wasn't easy. The suspect even had to use a jackhammer at one point.

Hattar thinks the thief had help.

"There's a guy helping him take the steel part where you see that piece in there," he pointed out, adding that the entire theft took around 3 1/2 hours.

Toward the end of the heist, you can see a brief glimpse of the thief, wearing a protective body suit of some sort and a headlamp.

The stolen goods included more than 2,000 pieces - engagement rings, wedding bands, diamonds and sapphires.

"They took everything from the safe. They cleaned out everything," Hattar said. He said he has no idea who the suspect might be.

The other mystery is - how did the suspect accomplish all of this without any alarms going off?

"They knew what they were doing," Hattar said. "It's not their first time."

The store owner says the business has insurance, but for not nearly the amount that was stolen. A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.