Gem Dealer Is Robbed at Gunpoint
LAGUNA NIGUEL — A San Diego gem salesman was robbed at gunpoint by two men who fled with the victim’s briefcase full of gems, authorities said Wednesday.
The holdup occurred in front of East Coast Bagels on Crown Valley Parkway at 2:45 p.m. when the salesman sat down to eat on an outdoor patio, said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Paddock.
As the man ate his bagel, the two robbers pointed a .38-caliber blue steel revolver at him and demanded his briefcase.
The pair then drove away in a black Chevrolet Celebrity or Cavalier, Paddock said.
Witnesses described the two men as 25 to 35 years old. One is 5 feet 10, 200 pounds, wearing a dark blue sweatshirt and denim pants. The other was described as 6 feet tall, 175 pounds, wearing a white shirt and denim pants.
Paddock speculated that the two men might have followed the salesman from Long Beach to Orange County.
Paddock said he did not know if the robbery is linked to a jewel heist in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, when a 49-year-old Scottsdale, Ariz., saleswoman was robbed of $50,000 worth of jewelry.
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