HANOVER, Pa. — Jewelry store owners are raising the alarm over a string of burglaries that happened across south central Pennsylvania in the last month and a half.
Plywood covers one of the doors to Ashley Lauren Fine Jewelry in Hanover, after a break-in on Sept. 30.
Security camera footage shows someone breaking through the door and checking counters around the shop.
Owner Ashley Hoover said nothing was taken, though, since she locks all the shop’s jewelry in a safe every night. The only items not in the safe were luxury watches in a display case that the intruder did break, but did not open.
Steven Furman, owner of Franklin Stevens Jewelers in Springettsbury Township, had a similar experience about two weeks prior.
“The funny thing is that they didn’t steal any watches. They stole whatever jewelry was in the cases,” Furman said. “The glass was all over the place and they smashed the front door to get in.”
Furman said he had insurance, but it doesn’t cover all his losses. He expects it will take weeks for repairs before the shop can reopen.
Hoover and Furman both said they heard about other burglaries at another jewelry store in Hanover, as well as shops in Camp Hill and Shrewsbury, all within the last month and a half.
Hanover Borough Police Department declined to comment on whether the other Hanover store was robbed. The police departments of Springettsbury Twp. and Hampden Twp., as well as Southern York Regional Police, did not respond to requests for comment.
Furman said in his 50 years in the jewelry business, he’s never had a burglary. To him, the incident is a wake-up call to central Pennsylvania jewelers to beef up their security.
“We have become so complacent over the years because it hasn’t happened,” he said.
The physical damage can be repaired, but the thefts have left a scar.
“It makes me feel really violated,” Hoover said. “Now I come in here and I have that sense of making sure that nobody’s in here that shouldn’t be, just that sense that I have to be looking over my shoulder.”