The female jewel thief targeting stores across the South has stolen millions of dollars worth of bling and is probably part of a sophisticated ring, investigators said Wednesday.
The brazen young woman, working with a male accomplice who was also caught on video during the stickups, has already robbed six stores since April, prompting the FBI to launch a manhunt.
"This is a very unusual case," Special Agent Lawrence Borghini of the FBI's Jacksonville, Florida, office told NBC News.
The female jewel thief targeting stores across the South has stolen millions of dollars worth of bling and is probably part of a sophisticated ring, investigators said Wednesday.
The brazen young woman, working with a male accomplice who was also caught on video during the stickups, has already robbed six stores since April, prompting the FBI to launch a manhunt.
"This is a very unusual case," Special Agent Lawrence Borghini of the FBI's Jacksonville, Florida, office told NBC News.
A jewelry trade group has declared her "Public Enemy No. 1" and put out a $10,000 reward.
"She's a very, very bold criminal," said John Kennedy, president of the Jeweler Security Alliance.
All the heists follow the same, carefully orchestrated pattern.
The woman cases a store, then comes back the next day and casually chats with workers about an item. Suddenly, she whips a gun out of her purse and forces the employees to a back room — where she steals their keys and uses zip-ties to secure them.
"At that point, she'll go back to the merchandise area of the store to lock the front door," Borghini said.
"Then she'll retrieve some shopping bags from her purse...and start loading various high-dollar value items, typically diamonds and watches, from the jewelry store."
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