Jewelry store employee threatened with a weapon before man steals merchandise

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Monday afternoon, Rocky Mountain Custom Jewelry sales associate Dylan Drury thought he was helping his final customer just before close. 

“I’m like, ‘What can I do for you?,'” Drury recalled. “He comes through. Held a 20 min conversation. Very friendly.”

He didn’t make a sale. Instead, he got robbed.

“He jumped around the counter,” Drury said. “Said he had a weapon. I wasn’t sure if it was a gun or knife. I wasn’t sure. And then he said get on the floor, I have someone looking through the window. You know, if you don’t cooperate, he’s gonna take action.”

Surveillance video shows the man stepping over Drury to make his way toward the cased merchandise.

“He started going through everything picking out what he wanted,” Drury said. “Took all the money out of the cash register and out he went.”

Drury said the robbery took two minutes. It was long enough for him to grab nearly 50 pieces of jewelry and look back at Drury and apologize.

“He was like, ‘I’m very sorry that I’m doing this to you. My family is having a hard time,’ and he apologized to me for doing what he did. And I looked at him and said, Well I’m having a hard time too. I’m not robbing you. You had two minutes. Get out the door.'”

When the man left, Drury called law enforcement and assessed the losses.

“He took a lot of rings,” Drury said. “There’s eight-10 rings missing. He took 18-20 gold chains out of the case here and then probably 20-30 bracelets. Diamond bracelets. He probably got away with 100 carats worth of diamonds. Upwards of $150,000 to $200,000.”

He explained insurance will cover the losses, but he knows it’s unlikely he’ll see all that merchandise recovered. He said it’s a major point of concern ahead of the holiday shopping season.

“Everything we work for is for us and our families,” Drury said. “So for someone to come in and just take it away in two minutes, or at least attempt to, it’s unreal.”

Interestingly enough, owner and goldsmith Nick Bostedt said he was away from the store at the time, but saw the man on the Ring camera at the front door. 

He said he called Drury to alert him he had a bad feeling about the guy. 

Drury ignored the calls to the store twice.

“So then he called me on my cell phone and was like, ‘Hey, is everything okay? How’s the customer?'” Drury said. “I say, ‘I’m fine, customer is fine. Everything’s good.'”

Bostedt said he felt something was wrong when he saw the man pulling on the door handle. He said regular customers know the door is always locked until an employee lets them in.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies are still looking for the man responsible. 

The sheriff’s office describes him as a Hispanic male in his early 20s with a thin build and dark brown or black hair. He was wearing a black baseball cap, a blue jacket, red pants with a white stripe down the sides and a white printed mask. He has a tattoo under his right ear. He is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who recognizes him or has seen him is asked to call 911 immediately.

The agency said detectives are working leads with hopes of getting more information soon.