The FBI, in conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies, is seeking the identity of two suspects who are believed to have been involved in multiple jewelry store robberies in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina.
Most recently, on Monday at approximately 10:36 a.m., a white female in her late 20s or early 30s and approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and 130 pounds entered a Jared Vault location in Mebane, N.C., and displayed a handgun.
At gunpoint, the suspect forced two employees to a back room and zip-tied their hands. She then returned to the merchandise area, removed various items from display cases, and placed them into a shopping bag before exiting the store and fleeing in an unknown direction.
The female suspect is also believed to have executed multiple similarly-styled jewelry store robberies across the Southeast region in recent months, including the Aug. 5 armed robbery of the Zales Outlet at North Georgia Premium Outlets in Dawsonville.
Other locations include Jared Vault in Sevierville, Tenn., on Oct. 16; Jared Jewelry in Bluffton, S.C., on Sept. 2; Reeds Jewelers in Panama City Beach, Fla., on Aug. 11; and Jared Jewelry in Woodstock on April 29.
A black male suspect in his late 30s or early 40s and approximately 6 feet tall and 250 pounds is also seen on surveillance video during the robberies in Panama City Beach, Woodstock and Dawsonville.
The unidentified dark-haired woman, who was reportedly wearing a dark baseball cap, blue button-up shirt and khaki pants, made off with more than $13,000 worth of jewels during the Dawsonville heist.
Each of the “robberies mirrored the Panama City Beach robbery and the suspects appear to be of the same build in reviewed surveillance video,” according to a press release from the FBI’s Jacksonville, Fla., office.
“In all [the] cases, the woman has the same M.O. She comes in early in the morning, forces the employees to the back of the store and zip-ties their hands,” said Dawson County Sheriff’s Maj. Ray Goodie.
While no one has been injured in the robberies, the FBI is calling the suspects armed and dangerous.
The Jewelers’ Security Alliance is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the female robbery suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to call Dawson County Sheriff’s Investigator Travis Greene at 706-344-3636 or the the FBI Jacksonville Field Office at 904-248-7000.
The reward hotline can be reached at 800-325-1883.