Aurora police search for suspects after $10,000 in jewelry stolen from La Plaza
A small business owner is asking for the public's help identifying the men accused of stealing more than $10,000 worth of jewelry from her shop inside La Plaza Colorado in Aurora.
The theft happened last Friday, Jan. 23, around 2 p.m. Jessica Orozco had stepped away from her stall to get her son from school. Orozco is the owner of Mi Angel Jewelry. She's spent more than four years building her business.
"In the 10 minutes I was gone, someone reached through the bars, unlocked the door, took a ring display, bent the foam where the rings were, hid them in their clothes, and left," Orozco said. "I can't identify them from the video. They seem like father and son."
She says 60 gold rings were stolen, totaling over $10,000.
Orozco said the timing makes the loss even harder, as she was relying on those sales leading up to Valentine's Day.
"It's a very hard blow," she said. "What I was planning to sell between now and February 14th is no longer there."
She says she had been in the process of completing inventory to secure insurance coverage and did not yet have a policy in place.
According to Isabel McMurrain, manager and part-owner of La Plaza, concerns were raised even before the theft was discovered.
"Two vendors came up to me and alerted me that there were individuals running around, looking into people's purses," she said. "Once we started reviewing camera footage, that's when the jewelry vendor came to me and said her rings were gone."
McMurrain said incidents like this hit especially hard at a marketplace designed to support small, minority-owned businesses - many of them run by women.
She also says January is one of the most difficult months for vendors.
"After Christmas, it's tough to recoup losses," McMurrain said. "These vendors are here every single day, working hard. To have something like this happen is incredibly disappointing."
La Plaza is equipped with an extensive surveillance system. She believes the suspects may have intentionally parked in an area without plate readers, but says police are reviewing nearby city cameras along Colfax Avenue.
La Plaza has shared surveillance images online and says multiple tips have already come in.
Anyone who recognizes the individuals or has information is asked to contact the Aurora Police Department. Tips can also be sent privately to La Plaza, which will forward them to investigators.
"We're a community," McMurrain said. "People look out for each other. We're hopeful this can be resolved and that our vendor can get some justice."
