Tsering Youdon, owner of Tibetan shop Tsering Jewelry (1200 Polk St.), and her 90-year-old mother were the targets of a robbery on Christmas Day. Her family is eagerly trying to solve the crime, due to the sentimental value of the stolen goods.
Youdon's niece, Lobsang Wangmo, told us that her aunt was unloading merchandise from her car, parked two meters down from the shop, just before 5pm on Dec. 25th. Inside the car was Youdon's 90-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia.
Based on footage captured by surveillance cameras (below), a car pulled up next to Youdon's. A man got out and quickly reached into her vehicle, took an item and jumped back into his vehicle before driving off.
The robbery of Youdon's car can be seen starting at 1:44.
Surveillance footage captured in the previous ten minutes shows that the suspect had been canvassing the store, and briefly walked into the smoke shop next door, Wangmo said.
Surveillance footage of the suspect in the neighboring smoke shop.
While the family claimed in its police report that the stolen jewelry is worth about $40,000, Wangmo said she and her aunt aren't exactly sure how to quantify the value of the items, due to their sentimental nature.
"My grandmother's health is deteriorating day by day," Wangmo said. "Every ten minutes, she looks for the stuff. That's the only stuff she got when she left from Tibet, when she escaped in 1969. It's the only thing she got from Tibet, so it's the only thing she remembers," Wangmo said.
Concerned about her grandmother's health, Wangmo is asking anyone with information on the individual above to contact the police, in hopes that the jewelry will be returned. As always, anonymous tips can be offered by calling (415) 575-4444 or texting TIP411 with 'SFPD' at the beginning of the message.
