The Jewelers’ Security Alliance has issued separate warnings to jewelers in Ohio and Michigan, based on recent criminal activity.

In Ohio, JSA reports in its most recent “E-mail Crime Alert” that on Aug. 12 burglars in the Cleveland suburb of Parma Heights cut all the phone lines into the building, entered a retail jewelry store by drilling the lock out of the door, and took two safes containing jewelry merchandise from the store. The burglary was caught on surveillance video and that five or six people were involved.

JSA notes that this is at least the fifth time that alarms have been disabled in Ohio jewelry store burglaries this year. The others include: Berea on Aug. 3, Wooster on July 6, Akron on May 18, and Centerville on Feb. 9.

“If your alarm system does not have line security, you are particularly vulnerable to this type of attack,” JSA said in its alert.

In Troy, Mich., in the same report, JSA warns about the possibility of a grab and run serial thieves.

In the latest theft on Aug. 8, a man asked to look at diamond rings in a chain retail jewelry store, JSA reports. He later returned and asked to see a specific 1.5 ct. white gold diamond ring. When it was removed from the display case, the man grabbed it and ran.

The suspect is described as a black male; 5-foot, 6-inches tall; with a circular scar on his left cheek. He may be accompanied by a female suspect, also black; 5-foot, 5-inches tall; with a tattoo on her right wrist and a second tattoo on her right forearm.

Police believe that these suspects may also be responsible for a grab and run theft of a high-end gold watch from a different retail store in Troy on July 30, and the theft of high-end eyeglass frames from a third store on Aug. 2 and Aug. 8.

JCK