One Bend Jewelry Store Gets Lucky

A diamond theft ring that has spanned across the country leads to seven arrests on federal charges. One Bend jewelry store was hit hard by a theft. — but another may have been spared

Five of the seven suspects were arrested at a Salem house Tuesday, and police say they’re involved in jewelry heists from Oregon to Florida.

One of the victimized stores was Saxon’s Fine Jewelry in Bend’s Old Mill District in late May, where a man ran out with thousands of dollars in diamonds.

That same ringleader is thought to have been seen days before at another store, Douglas Fine Jewelry Design in downtown Bend.

Store staff said late Thursday they feel very lucky and fortunate to not have been another victim. They think they were at least cased out by one of the alleged ringleaders, Michael Young.

The owner says if it wasn’t for an alert employee, they may well have been robbed.

It was just another day at the store when Cindy Vanpatten says Michael Young walked into their Minnesota Avenue store.

Vanpatten says he was extremely friendly and asked to look specifically at 2-carat princess-cut diamond rings.

“From the time he came in, I felt a little bit of a warning sign, I don’t know what it was about him,” Vanpatten said.

Vanpatten has been selling jewelry for 30 years, and says she can tell when people are up to no good.

“You know it’s there, you just have that awareness, it felt like we were being cased,” Vanpatten said.

When the man said he wasn’t satisfied with the inventory, and Vanpatten suggested they could order something in the $20,000 price range, she says Young gave her an email address to get hold of him. But when she tried to to use it, the email bounced back — it was an apparent fake.

After Young left the store, the next day, Saxon’s Fine Jewelry was hit.

“As soon as I heard that, I said, ‘We were cased,'” Vanpatten recalled.

The FBI says Young and another man, Ernest Remor, hit 11 jewelery stores from the East to West coasts in just one year. And at least seven people took part in the thefts.

According to FBI affidavits, the thieves were more violent in the East, Tasing one jewelry store owner and taking part in an armed robbery in another. They hit up four other Oregon stores.

Fortunately, Douglas Fine Jewelry Design didn’t become one of them.

For the owner, Steve Douglas, he’s glad he hired the right person to not fall for the trick.

“I’m very impressed that she was sharp enough not to take the bait,” Douglas said.

While Bend police have not confirmed if Young was indeed in the store, the owner and the employee say that it was definitely him.

As for why they weren’t hit. Vanpatten says location, what is available to take and how easygoing the employees are factored in.

“I think he just put all that together and said, ‘Nah, this won’t work,” Vanpatten said.

The accused ringleaders of the diamond theft ring pleaded not guilty to theft charges Thursday in Portland’s U.S District Court.