Ron Duvall knew something was wrong the minute he approached the door of his jewelry store in Penn Township last week.
Owner of Valmax Jewelers in the township’s Penn Crossing shopping plaza, Duvall pulled the keys to the building from his pocket only to realize the door was already unlocked.
Someone had broken in.
“I got the door open and I walked in and the first thing I saw was that the safe wasn’t where it had been before,” said Duvall, referencing the locked box that contained some of his most expensive pieces.
Duvall rushed to the front of the store. All of the fine jewelry had been taken from the showcases.
“They cleaned out all of my good jewelry,” he said, noting the burglar also stole pieces he was repairing for customers. “They got it all.”
The store also sells guns, none of which were taken, Duvall said.
Empty jewelry boxes still lay scattered in a showcase Friday morning as Duvall continued to clean up the mess left behind by the robbery.
Duvall, 78, of Penn Township, has owned the store for more than 20 years, but he has worked in the jewelry business for more than four decades — operating out of stores in Irwin, Monroeville and McKeesport.
“It’s something that is alarming first of all. I’ve been in the jewelry business over 40 years,” he said. “They took the biggest part of what I’ve built up over that period of time, and I just have to start over and rebuild again.”
Penn Township police and Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli’s office are investigating, said police Chief John Otto.
Investigators told Duvall the burglar accessed his store by entering the back door of the vacant business next door, formerly Will-Onita’s Family Restaurant. A hole was cut into the wall between the restaurant and jewelry store.
The burglar was able to disarm the jewelry store’s security system in less than 15 seconds — the delay time for the system’s alarm, Duvall said.
“The police said it was definitely a professional job,” Duvall said. “It wasn’t your neighborhood burglar. This was a professional job that had been cased and planned, and they knew exactly what to do when they got in here.”
Since the store also sells guns, Otto said officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted in the investigation Wednesday.
Anyone with information on the robbery can contact the Penn Township Police Department by calling 724-863-1119, Otto said.
Duvall does not have an exact count or dollar amount of the items stolen.
“It was definitely excessive,” he said.
Though Duvall’s insurance will provide some assistance, he is still left with a significant financial loss, he said.
“(Insurance) definitely won’t cover everything,” he said, “but it will cover some.”
Duvall’s daughter, Diane Guiser, started a GoFundMe to support legal costs and loss of income.
“Heading into the store’s busiest season of the year, my dad’s store inventory was gone,” Guiser wrote in the online fundraiser’s description. “When other businesses were gearing up for the weekend of Black Friday and small business Saturday, my dad was looking at a business with no inventory to sell, as well as a store that had been ransacked.”
The store will remain closed until the damage from the robbery is addressed and police conclude their investigation, Duvall said. He plans to have a more advanced security system installed to prevent future theft.
“I have a lot of good customers. Some of their jewelry was taken (into police evidence) and we’re working through the process now, because it’s an ongoing investigation…” Duvall said.
“As soon as I get everything back, the first thing I want to do is take care of my customers.”