The Gold and Silver Guy suffered a second break-in at the same Nanaimo store, eight days apart.
According to an press release from the Nanaimo Area Public Safety Association, the second smash-and-grab happened in broad daylight, shortly after 5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 3, when a male suspect with a sledgehammer got out of the passenger side of a red pickup truck, smashed through the store’s front window and went on to shatter two glass display cases. He managed to grab some packaged mint collector coins before he dropped the hammer and left in the direction of Bowen Park, all while the store’s alarm was sounding.
Store owner Jeff Ross said in the release that the value of the coins was only about $100, but the estimated damages to the display cases and window was about $2,000.
The previous weekend, Feb. 25, the store lost old pocket and wrist watches, valued at up to $4,000 when a male suspect on a bicycle smashed the store’s other front window.
Ross owns 12 stores on the Island that deal in gold and silver, tools and other items. In 25 years of operation his stores have been broken into 25 times and he estimates his total losses at more than $200,000. Only two people have ever been caught, he said.
The business owner had ordered metal roll-down shutters, at a cost of about $15,000, following the Feb. 25 crime.
“I’ve already got three locks on the door, bars across the windows, a scissor gate and film on the windows - what more am I supposed to do? … Why would anyone want to open a business these days?” he said.
Nanaimo RCMP confirmed they were investigating but hadn’t provided further comment as of press time.
READ ALSO: Valuable watches stolen in smash-and-grab break-in at Nanaimo jewelry store