Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Bellman's Jewelers Employee Found Door Unlocked, Alarm Deactivated

Tuesday Portsmouth Police log contains new details about jewelry store burglary.

A Bellman Jewelers employee called police on Tuesday morning when she arrived at work and saw the business had been burglarized.

According to the Portmsouth Police log from Tuesday, the employee told a police dispatcher the door was unlocked and the alarm had been deactivated. Portsmouth Police Capt. Corey MacDonald confirmed that is the information that was printed in the police log, but he would not comment further about the status of the investigation.

Portsmouth Police detectives continue to investigate a burglary of $1 million of merchandise from Bellman Jewelers on Congress Street and they want the public's help.

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Captain Corey MacDonald said anyone who saw anything suspicious or out of the ordinary should contact because it is often the little things that people might notice that help police solve cases.

"A lot of times these cases break on some person's little piece of information," MacDonald said.

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Oftentimes, someone will have seen something they thought was a little strange but didn't think too much about it, MacDonald said. When the police seek the public's help, sometimes people who did notice something out of the ordinary remember and report it to police.

On Tuesday, Portsmouth Police detectives scoured Bellman's Jewelers of Portsmouth for fingerprints, DNA samples, and other pieces of evidence. Two detectives also interviewed several business owners in the immediate vicinity of Bellman's Jewelers to see if they could find any witnesses.

The burglary, which MacDonald said is one of the biggest burglaries the city has seen in recent history, was discovered on Tuesday morning shortly after 9:30 a.m. when an employee arrived at work and noticed several items were missing. The retailer was closed from Saturday night to Tuesday morning and police believe the burglary occurred somewhere in that time frame.

On Tuesday, MacDonald said the police never received any alarm notifications from the business.

David Bellman, the business owner, said on Tuesday he has not been permitted yet to enter his store to see exactly what pieces of jewelry were taken. He also questioned how police came up with $1 million for the value of the stolen merchandise.

"We haven't even had access to our records to see what was taken," Bellman said. He said he has operated the Portsmouth store for five years.

MacDonald said members of the public would like to share information about the case, but wish to remain anonymous can utilize the Seacoast Crime Stoppers line.

"You can also leave an anonymous tip by logging on to www.seacoastcrimestoppers.org or send an SMS text to CRIMES (274637) and include TIPSCS in your message. You could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 if your information leads to an arrest and indictment," reads a press release issued by police on Tuesday afternoon.


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