Brazen midday jewelry theft caught on camera in Orange County

A brazen jewelry theft was caught on camera in Orange County last month in which store owners say more than $100,000 worth of product was snatched.

It happened at OC Diamond Estate Jewelry, located in the 100 block of S. Glassell Street in Orange, on Sept. 17 in the middle of their business day at around 3:30 p.m., according to Samy Soliman, who owns the store.

"They don't care," Soliman said. "They have no mercy."

Video from inside the store that day shows two thieves while Soliman works behind the counter.

"So, they ask me about jewelry," he recalled. "I don't have anything on display because of the accidents that happened before."

Soliman says this isn't the first time that he's been broken into, so he usually brings several merchandises from the back when asked by a customer. This time, however, before he could show all of the jewelry, he was distracted by another call.

"She pulled one of the boxes and put it on the seat," he said. "The guy is talking to me to block my vision so I don't see him."

Eventually the man and woman switch places, with the latter distracting Soliman while he's already on the phone.

"While she's talking to me, blocking my vision, he was taking the box from the seat, putting it into his underwear," Soliman said.

The man covered the portion of the box — which was full of 84 rings — sticking out of his pants with his t-shirt shortly before the two just saunter out of the store as if nothing was different from the time they entered.

Soliman said he didn't notice anything was missing until he was closing shop that night, staying until around midnight searching every corner of the store to see if it was just mispalced.

He says that in 60 years of being in business he's never seen something quite like this.

"I feel like this is an invasion of property that people work hard for," he said.

Soliman reported the incident to the Orange Police Department, and now he's releasing the surveillance footage from inside of his store in hopes that someone recognizes their faces — both of which are clearly shown on camera several times.

"They're going to get caught," he said. "One way or another. If not this time, next time."