“They hit the jackpot,” Carol Starr told CNN.
The couple had locked their own rings in a 6-foot-tall safe, where they also secured heirloom jewelry passed down from Carol’s late mother.
“My mother loved beautiful things and she wanted to leave a legacy through jewelry,” Carol Starr said. “She bought some beautiful antique jewelry, museum-quality jewelry.”
Orange County, California, prosecutors allege a group of thieves hid in the hillside adjoining the Starr’s home, watched them leave with visiting relatives, and made their move.
“They came over our fence, they broke through a window in the upper bedroom and came through that window,” Jeff Starr told CNN. “And then immediately started working … on the safe.”
The total loss: a staggering $8 million, the family estimates.
“You don’t feel safe in your own home anymore,” said Carol Starr, who is thankful no one returned home during the burglary. “I get so emotional and so mad when I think about what could have happened.”
Prosecutors say the break-in is part of a larger issue in which so-called “burglary tourists” enter the United States from countries that qualify for visa waivers, allowing a visit of up to 90 days without a traditional tourist visa. When the suspects arrive – most often from South America, prosecutors say – they join sophisticated burglary rings that prey on luxury homes.
In some cases, the suspects “lie in wait in these ghillie suits so they remain camouflaged,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “They take advantage of the fact that most people don’t have window sensors or motion detectors on their second floors. They have WiFi jammers to stop the alarm company from being notified.”
