Minnesota Prairie Roots

Chappius Jewelers, photographed several years ago, and the latest target of thieves.

YOU HAVE TO HAND IT to the owners of Douglas Diamonds & Fine Jewelry. They possess a sense of humor.

Less than two weeks after a Saturday morning break-in netted smash-and-grab thieves $10,000 in merchandise, the Faribault jeweler is running an ad in the Faribault Daily News with this tag:

Even thieves know great jewelry when they see it.

Examined alone, this ad would, indeed, strike you as funny, and creative. The catchy phrase grabs the reader’s attention.

But a few pages back in the same issue (today’s), this headline also draws attention:

Break-in at Chappuis Jewelry

The Faribault newspaper is reporting that a second jewelry store was targeted around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday by smash-and-grab thieves. You can read the complete story about the theft at Chappuis Jewelry, right around the block from the police station in the heart of historic downtown Faribault, by clicking here.

When you read that story, you won’t laugh. Not at all. The newspaper reports a string of jewelry store break-ins state-wide and a growing concern among law enforcement about the brashness of the criminals and the safety of their own, business owners and the public.

After leaving Faribault last night, the same group reportedly continued on to Hastings and hit a jewelry store there around 11 p.m.

The jewelry store crime wave apparently began on April 7 with a theft at Chilson Jewelers in Cambridge. Since then, jewelers in Apple Valley, Farmington and Buffalo have also been hit and investigators are looking into a connection with similar cases in Wayzata and Alexandria.

Let’s hope investigators get a break in these cases soon, before a break-in (and I expect there will be more) escalates into a violent confrontation.