50-lb crystal stolen from jewelry store: ‘At least they left me a rock’
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PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — A southeast Portland Jewelry store fell victim to a smash-and-grab early Wednesday morning.
The thief made off with a 50-pound quartz crystal, the owner says.
“It’s something that you would see like almost in a museum it’s beautiful,” Jody Howard, the owner, said.
Oro Jewelry has been on Hawthorne Boulevard now for over a year. Howard grew her jewelry business from the ground up, a true small business success story.
“I did Saturday markets for ten years, I sold jewelry all over the United States for fifteen years,” Howard said.
Early Wednesday, around 3 a.m., a man can be seen lurking in the window before hurling a large rock through Oro’s window. In a few moments, he lifts the football-sized crystal past broken glass and runs away with the $500 score.
“I do feel like somebody knew it was there, I don’t think it was totally random,” Howard said.
The crystal is a translucent smoky grey color with jagged edges. While not entirely rare, they don’t often grow to be as large as this one.
A new window was installed today in her store front, after being tagged with spray paint. Even more vandalism Howard has to worry about.
“Every night we get hit with something,” Howard said. “There’s a lot of graffiti out there … it looks really sad and it’s awful because that’s not how I want my business to be seen.”
Despite the setback, and—as she believes—the crystal likely won’t be found, Howard maintains a sense of optimism.
“At least they left me a rock in place of the one they stole,” Howard said.
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