$80,000 diamond watch stolen from Augusta Mall jeweler

Date: January 10, 2024

A suspect is being sought in the weekend theft of an $80,000 watch from a jewelry shop at the Augusta Mall.

The man, pictured in a surveillance image, came into SB Jewelers & Custom Design on 3450 Wrightsboro Road on Sunday afternoon and asked to try on the watch.

“The store employee took the Audemars Piguet watch ‘iced out’ (covered in diamonds) out of the showcase to allow the subject to try the watch on,” a sheriff’s report says. “Once the employee placed the watch on the subject’s wrist, he turned and ran out the door.”

The suspect was described as a Black male wearing a tan or white mesh hat, a brown t-shirt with a white banner on it, blue jeans with the legs rolled up and tan / brown shoes.

The store valued the watch at $80,000.

Any information concerning this subject, please contact Sgt. Tom Johnson (706) 821-1795, or any On-Duty Investigator with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (706) 821-1020 or (706) 821-1080.

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The Author

Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. He also owns AugustaCrime.com. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel. He is married with two daughters.

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