COLUMBIA, Pa. -- A suspected jewel thief ripping off stores along the East Coast stole tens of thousands of dollars of gold jewelry from several stores in Lancaster County.
He's described as a man with a long ponytail and cocky attitude.
"The guy has definitely done it many times before he's definitely cocky," says Cynthia Coleman of Burning Bridge Antiques in Columbia. "He was definitely cocky and friendly as can be."
On October 8th, the suspect robbed Burning Bridge Antiques and stole about $18,000 worth of gold from one of the individual vendor's glass cases.
He spoke to people in the store and waved on his way out. Then he went to two other stores and stole more gold, including Adams Antiques in Adamstown.
"It's an invasion and you take it personally," says Jackie Mowday, manager of Adams Antiques, says of her vendors. "For someone to come in and take advantage of someone like that, it makes me angry."
The stores compared their surveillance pictures and realized it was the same man. A few days later on October 12th, he was spotted robbing a store in Virginia.
"We would like to put this gentleman away," says Coleman. "He's not robbing jewelry cases he's robbing a person these are people that rent these cases, this is their savings."