Thieves targeted a family-owned jewelry store in West Hollywood twice in one night, stealing decades’ worth of meticulously crafted valuables. Huener Jewelry, located on Santa Monica Boulevard west of Fairfax, now faces the daunting task of rebuilding from scratch.
The break-ins occurred over a single 24-hour period starting on Father’s Day, KTLA reported. The store’s security alarm apparently failed to activate, giving the thieves ample time to carry out their heist. Surveillance footage shows the suspects breaking open the store’s safe and celebrating their success. They then systematically emptied the shelves of every piece of jewelry in the store. The burglars were thorough, returning for a second round to ensure they left nothing behind.
Robert Goukasian, whose family owns the store, told KTLA that the loss is beyond devastating.
Goukasian’s father emigrated from Armenia in 1979 and began working at the jewelry store in 1981. He saved up and bought the establishment in 1986 and has operated it ever since.
“Forty years of hard work, just gone,” Goukasian said.
Law enforcement officials suspect the theft was carried out by a sophisticated crime organization, possibly from South America. If so, the stolen jewelry is likely to be melted down and shipped out of the country.
The Goukasian family asks for support from their loyal customers and the West Hollywood community in their recovery.
The de-funding the police movement, and not arresting people has been a great success! I think we should just demand that all businesses and residence keep their doors unlocked to make it easier on the poor hungry victims of systemic racism.
“Law enforcement officials suspect the theft was carried out by a sophisticated crime organization, possibly from South America,” says this report.
South America, huh. Now would it be the work of thieves who crossed into our country at our open southern border?
Every posted article here is just a forum for commenters to insult each other and to stereotype identity groups. It’s why I visit this site less and less
Welcome to the internet!
There’s so many homeless people in west Hollywood,that the criminals hide in the crowds of homeless people in the streets,which makes it harder on Law Enforcement to make an arrest ! Most fire department call’s in west Hollywood are for the homeless,and a lot of Police calls nowadays are for the homeless,which makes longer response times for Law Enforcement to arrive at emergency residential calls !
Yet you don’t see a single TENT like you do all over Los Angeles and Hollywood. They come here to panhandle because some stupid people give them money. Ugh!
No ! They don’t sleep in tents they sleep in apartment carports in west Hollywood or abandoned buildings in west Hollywood !
Spell check…name of the store is Huener
Thank you!
This is certainly a tragedy, and the sense of loss must be enormous. I hope the community rallies and tries to buy even a little something from the store that they ordinarily would not have just to contribute to their recovery, as anyone would want and appreciate from their local community. However, I just want to point out that if an immigrant was able to arrive in the country and get a job at a store, and then just five years later was able to buy the actual store, that is indicative of a different kind of economy that we… Read more »
Sad. But honestly whats the purpose of even having police anymore in West Hollywood. its not like they would have shown up. I see them driving right past homeless sleeping in the medians lately by palm car wash (RIGHT BY THE STATION!).
They said their alarm was not working. How would the police know anything was going on? The thieves even left and came back when the police did not show because there was no alarm
“The store’s security alarm apparently failed to activate”
Immediate clue to this being an inside job. An employee or person close to the business.
I feel horrible for them.
Same happens here in Glendale during the very slowest times in the economy.
We’ve seen the same devastation and fires happen during the poorest times in the economy right here in Glendale. A large group of out of towner’s attempted same at a pharmacy at lockdowns but our PD arrested every one of them. Four new LA residents were recently arrested here for camouflaging cheap cameras across the street from homes then stealing the contents when home owners left.
Another example of a business that knows it’s a target of theft now or in any decade, not having proper security measures in place. Common sense says you have working alarm, and you secure major items in a floor safe. I can just hear the thieves saying, no one came after the first break in, let’s finish it.
Typical kneejerk reaction from a “blame the victim” mentality. The answer to the rampant crime in West Hollywood is not “hide or don’t wear your jewelry”, “get an attack dog”, “have your brother spend the night”, “install floodlights in your yard”, “have a high wall built around your property”, “build a security guard station at your front door”, on & on ad infinitum. There is a rhyme & reason why these criminal thieves come to West Hollywood to commit their crimes: No police presence. West Hollywood is a very small town, both in area & population, there could easily be… Read more »
No knee-jerk reaction at all. It is terrible that crime like this exists, but it has forever and every business owner should know this. My point was the business needs to take the correct steps to at least stop a return to the store. The other option is this was an inside job.
The truth of the matter is that police react to crimes that have happened after someone dials 911. That is why response time is so critical. There are steps we can take to prevent crime (bars on windows, cameras etc.) The city is adding drones to assist them in trying to catch criminals when they try to run. The “surveillance state” that you are describing is not available in the U.S. because of our privacy laws. So here we are, now that technology has placed us on the doorstep, are we ready to sacrifice some of our privacy to try… Read more »
This is horrible. I would love to be able to blame all of it on Lindsey Horvath and Sepi, but there are big problems in our society that are beyond those two. Having just returned from 3 weeks in beautiful Taiwan, I can attest that I never saw a single police officer, not a single police car anywhere in 3 weeks of travel, anywhere in the country. I only saw 3 homeless people, sleeping outside the main train station: in 3 weeks of travel. The country of Taiwan has virtually no crime. I had no fear of walking down any… Read more »
Not apples to apples. Tawain has about half the population of California, is almost 100% homogeneous and believe me it has homeless and mentally ill people and those with drug issues, but they remove these people from society quickly. We may soon be able to do that with the Supreme Court ruling today.
I agree they must have more homeless, but they do the right thing: keep them out of sight. There should be consequences for bad life choices. Taiwan knows what to do, we don’t. Taipei is a massive city, but has zero big city problems like in the U.S. The point I’m making is other places do things right, we do things wrong. It couldn’t be clearer. I’ve grown tired of sitting outside on a sidewalk cafe, and have to deal with a constant stream of crazies wandering around. The city is not the place for people who can’t afford to… Read more »
I wonder if the swift, sure, and brutal penalty for crime in Taiwan is so great that no one is willing to take the risk. I think in Singapore they publicly cane someone for littering.
You may be right, but the point is that is working in Taiwan. Maybe we should try it here. I’m not a fan of littering, and whatever Singapore is doing is, again, working, and what we are doing is not working.
Using your slumlord cash to go to Taiwan- must be nice! Do you have any special skills or education?
I’m self taught, and the only skill I have is knowing how to pick a good tenant, and knowing how to expedite getting rid of the troublemakers. Hope that helps.
BELIEVE IN GOD BUT TIE YOUR CAMEL 🐫