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Gold coins among $2.5 million in items taken from NJ safe
Michigan
Posts: 4,942 ✭
Far Hills burglary netted $2.5 million in jewelry, gold coins and other valuables from a safe, police said.
The burglary occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. Sunday at a Liberty Corner Road home, according to a release from Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest and Far Hills Police Chief Kenneth Hartman.
The residents were not home at the time when two hooded people pried open a garage door, leading to the attached garage, police said. Once they were inside the home, the burglars broke in to a locked bedroom containing the safe. They opened the safe, removed its contents and fled.
The burglars’ vehicle, a mid-1990s maroon Chevrolet Astro van, was caught on the home’s video surveillance system. It was seen pulling into the driveway shortly after a member of the household staff left the property.
The van had no front license plate and a light-colored pinstripe along the door paneling. The vehicle’s sliding door was on the passenger side. All of the windows, other than the front driver-side and passenger-side windows, appeared to have been tinted, police said.
The vehicle was on the property for approximately 15 minutes, Forrest said.
Police offered the following description of the burglars:
- The first was approximately 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a heavy build, wearing a black jacket over a light hooded sweatshirt, jeans and dark-colored shoes.
- The second burglar was a man, between 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a medium build, wearing a dark jacket over a dark hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and dark gloves. He was carrying a crow bar. The jacket had a patch insignia on the right elbow.
The burglary occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. Sunday at a Liberty Corner Road home, according to a release from Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest and Far Hills Police Chief Kenneth Hartman.
The residents were not home at the time when two hooded people pried open a garage door, leading to the attached garage, police said. Once they were inside the home, the burglars broke in to a locked bedroom containing the safe. They opened the safe, removed its contents and fled.
The burglars’ vehicle, a mid-1990s maroon Chevrolet Astro van, was caught on the home’s video surveillance system. It was seen pulling into the driveway shortly after a member of the household staff left the property.
The van had no front license plate and a light-colored pinstripe along the door paneling. The vehicle’s sliding door was on the passenger side. All of the windows, other than the front driver-side and passenger-side windows, appeared to have been tinted, police said.
The vehicle was on the property for approximately 15 minutes, Forrest said.
Police offered the following description of the burglars:
- The first was approximately 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a heavy build, wearing a black jacket over a light hooded sweatshirt, jeans and dark-colored shoes.
- The second burglar was a man, between 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a medium build, wearing a dark jacket over a dark hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and dark gloves. He was carrying a crow bar. The jacket had a patch insignia on the right elbow.
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also since when does a crow bar open a safe??? a real safe...
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<< <i>Good for them! What idiots keep $2.5 million in a home safe? >>
Why would you say, that being robbed, was good for them?
<< <i>
<< <i>Good for them! What idiots keep $2.5 million in a home safe? >>
Why would you say, that being robbed, was good for them? >>
Amazing isn't it? Good to know someones position on these kinds of things as soon as possible.
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<< <i>i agree with the inside info angle.
also since when does a crow bar open a safe??? a real safe... >>
I missed the part of the story mentioning a crowbar was used to open the safe.
-Randy Newman
My partner and I purchased a HUGE safe full of coins with 6" of steel plates. Very heavy duty. I let the partner have it since he wanted it. I tried to convince him how stupid it is to have a safe at home that's visible. He already has 2 large safes about the same size, 6' tall.
My problem is - How do you have professional movers move it, that don't employ minimum wage scum bags that know it's on the premises now, and spread the word to their buddy crooks ? How do you keep home repairmen / maids / friends / friends kids etc from ever seeing a large safe ? They all will think it's loaded. I get a kick out of people discussing safes on this forum, a surprising amount of people don't heed my warnings. That's OK, I'll just keep reading about other peoples thefts.
Safes are great, so long as you move them in yourself, business you purchased from don't know your last name or address etc, safe is in an extremely well hidden spot, you never let your kids / friends know that it is there / maid and workers have no way of accidentally discovering the location. Once the safe is known, get rid of the thing.
It's not hard at all too imagine someone with 2.5 Mil in a safe/cabinet at home. There are people that live in a different economic strata than others.
Edited to say: I doubt very seriously that it was to collect insurance. Many things can be identified once it shows up - someone that is smart enough to acquire 2.5Mil as pocket change, isn't dumb enough to take that chance. Much more likely that the owner has over a long period of time, managed to acquire a significant amount of collectables etc that they put in a safe to fly under the IRS radar. No way they will have reciepts for that kind of stuff to get insurance claim. How many of you acquire things that you hide from the IRS ? BS, I and everyone else know you do it. LOL
<< <i>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Of course I don't know the true facts of this case, but here's my opinion of what happened based on this story. The theives new when the house was empty, knew where the cameras were so that their van wouldn't be easily identifiable, knew how to get into the house, knew where the safe was, opened it and emptied it of it's contents and got away, all in 15 minutes. I'd say this was an inside job, possibly arranged by the owner in order to collect the insurance money. I doubt that what was taken was worth anywhere near 2.5 million dollars. The owners had security cameras but no alarms? Verrry suspicious.>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If this was an inside job (i.e. maid or other employee) it is very likely they knew how to turn off a security alarm since it would
be likely they would be in and out during the day while the owner was not there. An alarm would alert the police while
security cameras are an after the fact matter.
<< <i>Good for them! What idiots keep $2.5 million in a home safe? >>
No one deserves to be robbed. I had my car broken into, and all my luggage while travelling for work taken. Could I have been more cautious? Of course. Did I deserve it? No.
is not anyone detecting the sarcasm? i sure did....
I missed the part of the story mentioning a crowbar was used to open the safe.
- The second burglar was a man, between 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a medium build, wearing a dark jacket over a dark hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and dark gloves. He was carrying a crow bar.
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I am assuming the crow bar was used to break in and also break into
the container holding the goods... like a flimsy filing cabinet or a very
cheap safe.