Brazen thieves pull off heist at the Jewelry Center in Paramus

PARAMUS - Police are still looking for brazen thieves that took advantage of the snowy weather to pull off a jewelry heist that cost the store owner $250,000.
Surveillance video caught the break-in at the Jewelry Center on Route 4 early Thursday morning.
Investigators say the thieves crashed through a wall with a pickup truck and then ripped out a safe and emptied showcases filled with jewelry and watches.
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"They knew what they were doing," says Joseph Ayaz, manager of Eternal Touch Jewelry. "They are professionals. They were fast enough and I guess practiced."
Ayaz says the thieves pulled out the safe with a chain and then lifted it up onto a getaway vehicle with a backhoe. He says a backhoe and three other vehicles were left behind in the lot.  Paramus police say all the vehicles were stolen.
Recent snowstorms may have helped the thieves pull off this heist, police say.  Giant snowbanks in front of the store made it hard to see from nearby Route 4. Owners believe if anyone did see a backhoe or trucks in front of the store while driving by, they would've thought workers were just clearing the lot.
The robbery is nearly identical to a New Year's Day heist at Union Jewelers Exchange on Route 22. Thieves used a similar tactic in that crime, using a truck to crash through the door and a stolen forklift to grab a safe. Those thieves failed to reach the safe.
Police may catch a break in identifying a suspect in the Paramus case.  The backhoe was stolen from Route 17, and police say they have video of the vehicle.
Authorities have not yet released the surveillance video in the Jewelry Center robbery, but say the suspects were wearing masks.

Shoppers try to take down a purse snatcher

The first surveillance image police released of Amanda Downing was not clear. They were trying to identify the grainy figure after a Williston shopper accused the woman of swiping her purse from a grocery cart. Tips from the public helped police identify the 37-year-old Winooski woman. But they didn't know where she was until she struck again. Downing was arrested last weekend after targeting the wrong woman at the Hannaford in Burlington.

"It was amazing to me just how many of the bystanders or the good Samaritans intervened on behalf of this older woman who had her purse taken from her and she actually yelled, 'Stop, thief!'" Burlington Police Cpl. Tom Chenette said.

Several shoppers rushed to her rescue. The surveillance video shows one pushing Downing against the produce while another wrestles away the stolen purse.

"We don't typically recommend that people physically engage these types of suspects," Chenette said. "Typically they're desperate as in this case. It was motivated by drugs."

Chenette says Downing is an IV drug user who commonly carries needles on her. She has a lengthy criminal record, mostly drug and driving offenses related to her addiction.

Police say it was a quick-thinking pharmacist, however, who helped put her behind bars.

"What the pharmacist did is what we certainly would recommend where he followed her outside. He obtained the license plate of the car which was eventually able to crack the investigation open," Chenette said.

Several police agencies had been looking for Downing. Investigators say she's behind seven similar purse snatchings at supermarkets in Chittenden and Washington counties last month.

Chenette says there are a few simple steps shoppers can take to keep their purses safe.

"Carry it on you, preferably slung over your shoulder, would be best," Chenette said. "Purses that are able to zip or have some kind of a latch to keep them closed as opposed to a bag that can be easily reached into from behind and just be aware of your surroundings."

Downing has been charged with multiple purse snatchings. She's being held for lack of $10,000 bail.