Jeweler abducted at home, set free in aborted robbery

Los Angeles police are searching for three men in the kidnapping of a North Hollywood jeweler Friday night in an aborted attempt to rob his store, authorities said.

The three men knocked on the door of the jeweler’s home in Tujunga about 11 p.m. and forced their way in, said Sgt. Rudy Alaniz of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The jeweler and his wife were tied up as the intruders searched the home for valuables before two of them took the husband in his green Mercedes-Benz SUV and drove to the jewelry store. The third man remained with the wife.

Police responded to the home after someone reported hearing screams, but the man fled before they arrived. The wife was unharmed, Alaniz said. 

The jeweler was released unharmed in the Van Nuys area. Police are speculating the robbery attempt may have been aborted when the kidnappers saw police vehicles in the area.

Police believe the jeweler was targeted because the kidnappers had specific information about him, Alaniz said.

-- Raja Abdulrahim

Comments

[JamesKnollwood]

When the three forced their way into his home they should have been met by the jeweler with an assault weapon with a high capacity magazine...oh right, California doesn't want us to be able to protect ourselves with such weapons.