Santa Monica jewelry heist takes $1.5 million

Police are in the process of searching for four men in connection with an armed robbery that swiped $1.5 million in jewelry.

The robbery occurred on Tuesday, April 26, at approximately 2:00 p.m. in the parking lot behind The Veggie Grill in Santa Monica. The assailants, described as males of unidentified race in their mid 20's, approached the victim after he had finished lunch.

Surrounding the victim's car, three of the four assailants proceeded to break out the front driver and passenger windows.  According to Sergeant Richard Lewis, after reportedly slashing the victim's tires and pointing a handgun to the victim, the assailants grabbed a black hard case messenger bag containing the merchandise, and fled in a dark or metallic gray Nissan Sentra or Altima 4-door driven by a fourth suspect.

Initial reports described the victim as an employee of Susan Foster Exquisite Fine Jewelry, an upscale jewelry boutique in Brentwood with a reputation for catering to Hollywood actresses. However, according to Susan Foster, the owner of the boutique, the victim was an independent salesman not employed by her.

"This really had nothing to do with us," said Foster. "People have been writing about this as though it had something to do with us, but the victim was not employed by us. There was no loss on our end."

No injuries were reported from the incident.