Burglars take $50,000 worth of jewelry from Lincoln Jewelers

The Rhodes family expressed gratitude Thursday morning as they cleaned up glass and other debris at their store, Lincoln Jewelers.Burglars broke into Lincoln Jewelers at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and left with $50,000 worth of jewelry.Lincoln Jewelers is located in the Lincoln Hills Town Center at 395 South Highway 65, along with Safeway and CVS."I am so excited that nobody got hurt, and that no one was here when it happened," Debbie Rhodes, who owns Lincoln Jewelers with husband, Mark and sons, Brian and Eric, said. "We will recover and we have positive attitudes."Lincoln police responded to the scene after receiving a burglary alarm notification for the shop at 11:28 p.m., Police Chief Paul Shelgren said Thursday."They (detectives) are actively working on (the case)," Shelgren said. "They are following up on the investigation and following leads."Surveillance videos showed the two burglars first breaking through the front window with hammers, using those same hammers to break through the display cases and placing the stolen goods into plastic trashcans they had brought with them.The burglars wore gloves, baseball caps and hooded sweatshirts, and drove away in a four-door black sedan, according to Brian Rhodes, one of the Lincoln Jewelers owners.An employee at a nearby shop heard pounding, Rhodes said, and locked herself in the store."Within three minutes, they took what they could," Brian Rhodes said. "We put the big, high dollar items and customer repairs in the safe so they're protected. Some of what they took was fake, brass samples."Debbie Rhodes said the family found humor in the fact that part of the burglar's loot was fake. "We thought it was kind of funny," Debbie Rhodes said. "They won't be happy but we had a good laugh."Shelgren said there are no fingerprints, since it appeared the robbers were wearing gloves in the surveillance video, but the face of one suspect is visible."You can't see it clearly, and if you look it's real fuzzy," Shelgren said. "We're seeing if there's any way to enhance the video to see if we can see it clearly and then (we would) release the photograph."He would not discuss details about the investigation or possible leads."We have to keep it confidential so the detectives can do their jobs," Shelgren said.Since Lincoln Jewelers is not insured, Brian Rhodes said, "we are taking a big hit.""The high cost of insurance has caused us to be self-insured," Brian Rhodes said.He said insurance is estimated to be $10,000 a year but the cost can add up, depending on an insurance company's security requirements, such as jewelry cases made of special glass.One extra theft deterrent Lincoln Jewelers will now take is a retractable bar system on the front of the store, Brian Rhodes said.The only injury from the burglary was when Debbie Rhodes cut herself on some glass while cleaning it up."My boys bandaged me up and took care of me," she said. Debbie Rhodes said she appreciated employees from neighboring businesses coming by March 10 to visit."We have to focus on the good people," she said.Brian Rhodes said his family "counted our blessings" as they cleaned up the shattered display cases and displaced jewelry March 10.Mark Rhodes was diagnosed with a brain tumor 15 months ago, and is undergoing treatment."He's doing so well and we have so much to be grateful for," Brian Rhodes said. "It (the burglary) puts my dad's brain cancer into perspective and has helped put life into perspective."