Three masked men drove a pickup truck straight through the front of Utah Gold Buyers in Midvale, smashing display cases and grabbing coins and jewelry among merchandise valued at least $50,000 before speeding off. The haul included two Cartier bracelets, and one of the men came back into the wrecked store twice to grab more merchandise from a case before the group fled.
Store owner Cole Cannon watched the whole thing unfold in real time, checking security footage on his phone while he was at home, according to FOX 13 Salt Lake City. He recalled seeing the truck jammed into his store and the men smashing through cases and scooping up goods as the break-in played out on his screen.
Stolen Getaway Truck Turns Up Abandoned in Sandy
The pickup used to ram the building had itself been stolen out of South Jordan before the burglary, the outlet reported. It was later found abandoned in Sandy, though the report does not say when or how investigators located it.
Cannon moved fast once the burglars were gone, boarding up the shattered storefront and telling FOX 13 he expects the business to bounce back. He said valuables can be replaced but people cannot, and added that he was glad nobody got hurt and that everybody was safe.
Owner Hopes Case Gets Closed
Cannon said he hopes the men responsible get taken off the streets, and that someone comes forward with information that could help close the case. Unified Police told the outlet it did not have information readily available about broader trends in gold-store burglaries in the area.
Smash-and-grab style break-ins using vehicles as battering rams aren't new to the Salt Lake Valley. A Midvale New Balance store was hit for the second time in less than a year, with security footage showing a suspect trying to break through the glass door using a boulder, according to KUTV. Owner Scott Spurrier recalled an earlier break-in in which a suspect rammed the front doors with a vehicle, and told the station that burglaries targeting local businesses seemed to be spreading beyond the metro area.
A Similar Scene Played Out Years Ago in West Valley City
The tactic of driving a vehicle into a jewelry store has a history in the valley. In 2008, a would-be thief drove a white Ford pickup into Pailin Jewelry in West Valley City but left without taking anything once inside, according to KSL. That break-in was the store's second in nearly two months, following an earlier robbery in which a man took a clerk hostage before police shot and killed him. Police at the time said they had not determined whether the two Pailin Jewelry incidents were connected.
For now, the investigation into the Utah Gold Buyers burglary remains open, with Cannon pinning his hopes on tips from the public to help identify the three masked men.
