Palm Beach Police connect man arrested last week with 2022 burglary at Tiffany & Co.

Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News
·4 min read
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A man arrested last week after Palm Beach Police said he smashed a jewelry store's windows and stole several items before fleeing to the Intracoastal, is facing new charges related to a similar smash-and-grab theft in 2022.

Within days of the Feb. 20 incident at the David Yurman store on Worth Avenue, police connected the 29-year-old Lake Worth Beach man to a similar incident that took place in June 2022, at the Tiffany & Co. store just up the street, police spokesman Capt. Will Rothrock said.

The man was connected to the Tiffany & Co. burglary by the fingerprints he left behind at that scene, Rothrock said.

The man was arrested last week after police received a call for an alarm going off at the David Yurman store at 249 Worth Ave. As police responded, an officer spotted the man on the town's surveillance cameras. When police confronted the man, he fled on his scooter toward the Intracoastal, where he jumped into the water and swam to a dock, police said.

The Palm Beach Police Department's dive team later went to the spot where the man jumped into the water and, in murky conditions, found the man's electric scooter and several pieces of jewelry that had been taken from David Yurman.

Investigators realized that incident bore striking similarities to a 2022 smash-and-grab at Tiffany & Co. at 259 Worth Ave.

According to an arrest report, police were on a routine patrol in the 200 block of Worth Avenue on June 13, 2022, when they saw a broken window near a jewelry display at the Tiffany & Co. store.

Two holes are seen in the west-facing display window of Tiffany & Co. on the northeast corner of Worth and Hibiscus avenues, following an overnight smash-and-grab burglary on June 13, 2022.
Two holes are seen in the west-facing display window of Tiffany & Co. on the northeast corner of Worth and Hibiscus avenues, following an overnight smash-and-grab burglary on June 13, 2022.

The broken window, which faced west toward Hibiscus Avenue, had two large openings, police said. A large decorative rock that police believe was used as part of the break-in was in the street nearby.

In a large planter near the store, police also found a plastic bag that contained another plastic bag, a drywall hand saw and a rag, the report said.

Palm Beach police said a Lake Worth Beach man smashed this display window at Tiffany & Co. on Worth Avenue in June 2022. The man was recently charged in connection with another Worth Avenue smash-and-grab burglary.
Palm Beach police said a Lake Worth Beach man smashed this display window at Tiffany & Co. on Worth Avenue in June 2022. The man was recently charged in connection with another Worth Avenue smash-and-grab burglary.

A manager for Tiffany & Co. told police that four items worth a total $53,300 were taken from the window display:

  • A pair of Tiffany HardWear double link earrings in 18 karat rose gold, worth $2,800.

  • A Tiffany three-row hinged bangle bracelet in rose gold with diamonds, worth $12,500.

  • A Tiffany graduated link necklace in 18 karat rose gold, worth $15,000.

  • A Tiffany hinged bangle in rose gold, worth $23,000.

Police investigating the 2022 burglary reviewed town surveillance cameras. They found video of a man on a black electric scooter riding east over the Royal Park Bridge about 2:50 a.m. Using the town's network of surveillance cameras, they watched the man ride his scooter toward Worth Avenue, stop near the Tiffany & Co. store and put something into the planter where police later found the plastic bag.

The man rode his scooter away from the store and returned minutes later to park in front of one of the west-facing display windows at Tiffany & Co., the arrest report said. The video showed the man checked the area before he broke the window and took jewelry from the display. He then got back on his scooter and took the Royal Park Bridge west out of town, police said.

Along with the video evidence, police found two fingerprints on the plastic bag, the report said.

When the man was arrested on Feb. 20 for the burglary at David Yurman, police once again found near the store a plastic bag that had burglary tools in it, similar to the one found at Tiffany & Co. in 2022, the arrest report said.

The man was fingerprinted when he was arrested. When a West Palm Beach police fingerprint examiner compared the man's fingerprints to those found on the plastic bag near Tiffany & Co. in 2022, she found a match, the arrest report said.

Another piece of evidence that connected the man to the Tiffany & Co. burglary: The man told police he was a former contractor for the security company ADT, and he had a blue, short-sleeved shirt with a white ADT logo that matched the shirt seen in the surveillance video from June 2022, the report said.

In addition to the charges the man already faced for the David Yurman burglary, he now faces two additional charges of burglary of a structure with damage worth more than $1,000, and grand theft of more than $20,000 with damage of more than $1,000, court records show.

The man remains in the Palm Beach County jail as of Wednesday morning, according to jail records. His original bond was $307,000. Court records show an additional bond of $20,000 was added related to the charges for the Tiffany & Co. burglary.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Police: Man in David Yurman case also robbed Tiffany & Co.