Police said they’ve arrested a 30-year-old man who used to work at a high-end jewelry shop on Elm Street, in connection with the thefts, over time, of $150,000 Rolex watches starting last year.
Pierce Shortell. Photo courtesy of the New Canaan Police Department
Pierce Shortell of Wallingford was charged with first-degree larceny.
In a complicated investigation that’s still ongoing, police say the thefts first came to light in late May when discrepancies turned up among inventory, Rolex and sales reports at Manfredi Jewels.
Police Lt. Jason Ferraro, the department’s public information officer, said in a press release that further investigation revealed discrepancies going back to the period immediately after Shortell was hired last year.
The problems ceased just as he resigned early last month, Ferraro said.
“In examining employee records and calendars it was determined that only Shortell was working on all of the days that suspicious entries were made into the stores database that coincided with the watches gone missing,” he said in the release.
Members of the NCPD Investigative Section examined FedEx shipping records and found that Shortell had made shipments around the times that watches went missing from the store, Ferraro said. Police traced the shipments to Ohio, to a business address where the watches were then sold on eBay, he said.
With the help of Ohio authorities, police executed a search-and-seizure warrant at that address and recovered a single Rolex watch, according to Ferraro. Police are searching for additional watches, he said.
Shortell was either held or released on $150,000 bond and scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Norwalk.
Man this story bums me out. Earlier this year, I had walked into this store and this man was very nice to me. He helped me take some links out of my watch for free. Too bad 🙁