The bad news for Peter Kaplan is even worse than first reported.
The North Carolina diamond broker, whose $1.5 million inventory was stolen in New Mexico last week, didn’t have insurance.
“My business is finished. I have no capital to restart it,” said Kaplan, a diamond broker for 40 years who lives in New Port, N.C. “This was a three-minute lapse of time that destroyed my life.”
Kaplan and his wife had picked up a rental car and a hotel room and were en route to a jewelry store when they stopped for a quick restroom break in Albuquerque. They left a Samsonite suitcase containing more than 70 rings and 150 loose jewels in the back of the car.
The cheapest diamond in the case was worth $2,500. One was worth more than $100,000.
When the couple returned, they found someone had punched a hole in the rear passenger window and stolen the suitcase. Adding to the mystery is a video surveillance camera that blacked out 10 minutes before the theft.
Police believe the thief might have been following the couple and said the theft might have been a “professional hit.”
The Kaplans found a cell phone equipped with an electronic tracking system that was apparently left behind in the center console of the car a couple of days before the theft. Police are trying to find out whether the device was activated at the time of the burglary.
Police also have contacted the airport, asking security to be on the lookout for Kaplan’s case, and have released a surveillance video photograph taken from inside the drugstore of a person who was acting suspiciously.
Kaplan said he rarely leaves his inventory in a car and looked around several times Wednesday to see whether anyone was watching.
“I did what I thought was prudent,” he said. “It was a big spot. A lot of people were walking around, it was wide open, it was 10 in the morning, and I parked right next to the door.
“Not being from Albuquerque, it looked like a great place to stop,” he said. “It’s not like I parked in a back alley.”
Kaplan didn’t carry insurance because, he said, it is expensive for traveling brokers.
___
Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
Topics Agencies North Carolina
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Chubb Q2 Net Income Up 24% to $2.2B 
Soccer Officials Arrested After Melee That Damaged Hard Rock Stadium in Miami 
Allstate, State Farm Sued Over $4 Billion Maui Fire Settlement 
With American Mobile Cancellations, Florida Mobile Home Market Has ‘Fallen Apart’ 
