Burglars Steal $200K Worth of Hermès Bags After Smashing Auction House Window With Hammer

Retail theft is on the rise, but a brazen man in New York City took things to the next level when he smashed the display window of an auction house, and he and two accomplices made off with more than $200,000 of Hermès bags in the middle of the night, police said. And the entire caper was caught on surveillance video. Read on to find out what happened, and where the man are now.  

What the Video Shows

In the video, a white Acura pulls up in front of Heritage Auctions on Park Avenue near East 57th Street around 3:50 a.m. March 7. Three men get out, two of whom are holding hammers. With one of the men acting as lookout, another man smacks the glass window with the hammer nearly a dozen times. He then pulls at it until it comes crashing down on the sidewalk, missing him by inches.

Suspects Ran Off, Still At Large

The man then grabs eight of the luxury bags, which police say are worth $242,000, and makes a break for it. Off camera, the men got back into the Acura and took off. Police are still searching for the suspects. 

Another Recent Smash-and-Grab

Smash-and-grabs are by no means exclusive to New York City, and several of them have created headlines in recent weeks. Just last weekend, a man took a sledgehammer to a jewelry case in an Atlanta Saks Fifth Avenue and swiped $90,000 worth of luxury watches, police said. According to police, the man parked his SUV outside the store and went inside with a sledgehammer tucked beneath his jacket. After smashing the display case, he grabbed four Chopard Alpine Eagle watches worth nearly $90,000 overall, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Police are still looking for him. 

Man Drove Through Store Window

In Fairfield, Ohio, a thief pulled off a super-sized smash-and-grab when he drove his Dodge truck through the glass windows and doors at a custom wheels-and-tires shop on March 29, police said. He loaded up his truck with merchandise before taking off, WKRC reported.

Parked Cars Also At Risk

And smash-and-grabs don't just happen in stores. In Douglas County, Colorado, police are investigating nearly a dozen smash-and-grabs that have happened in cars parked outside horse stables around the county. "One of our boarders came in ran inside for a brief second, came back out and her purse was gone," Scott Ralston, the manager at Castlewood Equestrian Center, told Fox 31. The brazen thieves have often struck in the middle of the day. "We got hit again once on a Saturday, then on a Sunday and they smashed and grabbed. Those were around noon, lunchtime, when there were a lot of people here," said Ralston. In each case, the thieves went directly to Walmart to buy gift cards with the stolen funds.