Pleasant Prairie JCPenney jewelry theft caught on surveillance

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. - Security video shows a Pleasant Prairie JCPenney smash-and-grab theft that happened early Thursday morning, Feb. 29.

Under moonlight and surveillance lights, the video shows three masked suspects bust through the store's front door around 2:30 a.m.

"There were four suspects. One acted as lookout," said Pleasant Prairie Police Patrol Capt. Paul Marik.

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Once inside JCPenney, the three suspects scattered straight to the jewelry department. With sledgehammers in hand, they started to smash through the glass cases and grab what Marik called lower-level jewelry.

"It wasn’t hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. "This wasn’t the heist of the century."

Surveillance video from Pleasant Prairie JCPenney smash-and-grab jewelry theft (Feb. 29, 2024)

Between digging through drawers and cracking open the cases, the suspects were in and out in less than four minutes. Before they made their big getaway, Marik said one of the crooks left their blood behind on the case and floor.

"One of the guys ended up cutting themselves, which means you were there," Marik said. "You can't just say, 'I don't know how that blood got there.'"

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Police also took to Facebook to let the thieves know it is only a matter of time before they are all caught.

"The take on this is not going to be substantial for the amount of time that they’re going to face now for felony burglary," said Marik. "It’s a big deal. Amazon is always hiring."

Police told FOX6 News they are still working on piecing together all the evidence to catch the people involved. Anyone with information is asked to give them a call.