Man arrested for March jewelry store robbery in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz police say they have arrested a suspect behind a jewelry store robbery in March. Last week, Roman Petre, 28, was detained moments before leaving the country. Police call the incident a “distraction scam.”

On March 16, 2018, three people went inside Byzantine Jewelry store on Pacific Avenue. Petre was among them and started asking the owner questions about merchandise and claimed he wanted to buy a gift for his wife. Another group of five women went into the store and started to ask questions too.

Police say this was a distraction scam where thieves working in organized pairs or a group create a distraction to steal from an individual. While someone is focused on another task or errand, they take advantage and steal valuables.

The owner told the people he could only help one person at time. At one point he confronted a female who was partially behind a display counter on the other side of the store. The woman then said she did not want to purchase anything because he yelled at her. Both groups ended up walking out right after the altercation.

After reviewing security camera footage, detectives say one of the females in the group had crawled to the back room and taken $20,000 in gold coins and silver bars. After a full store inventory check the owner said a total of $79,496 worth of various items including precious stones and jewelry were stolen.

Det. Brain Warren was able to track down Petre who is from Anaheim. Petre had recently purchased a one-way ticket to Romania set to depart on Aug. 24. Santa Cruz police along with Los Angeles police were able to detain Petre at the airport.

He was later transported back to Santa Cruz County and booked into jail. His bail is set at $1 million.