California couple robbed of ‘priceless’ ancestral jewelry after thieves tail them home from store for miles: video
A California couple was robbed of “priceless” ancestral jewelry just outside their Orange County home after a team of thieves trailed them home from a jewelry store 16 miles away, according to the victims’ family and reports.
Dr. Vijay Wali and his wife Dr. Jyotika Wali were attacked last Friday by a pair of men as they pulled into their driveway with the terrifying scene caught on home surveillance footage, the couple’s daughter said in Facebook posts.
Ring footage of part of the incident shows Vijay shoved to the ground in his driveway after he tussled with one of the alleged thieves.
Vijay said he was taking stuff out of the trunk as his wife was about to step inside the house when a man pounced at him, NBC News reported.
He told the outlet he shouted at his wife to lock the door and he was slugged in the head. When Jyotika went to help her spouse, she was then assaulted and robbed.
“I was immediately attacked by another man, and my purse was taken, and I saw my husband had been assaulted, and I screamed for help,” she told the station.
The couple’s daughter, Dr. Priyanka Wali, said in a Facebook post that the man who assaulted her father said in Spanish to his accomplice, “Take it from her” when talking about her mother’s purse.
The robbers trailed the couple for a decent amount of time as the pair made a couple of pit stops, including at Jyotika’s office, according to NBC News.
The thieves stalked their victims for about 16 miles, Priyanka said.
“There were at least two cars present and multiple people involved in this Southern California organized crime,” she posted.
The couple was robbed of multiple family heirlooms known as dejhoor, long earrings worn by Kashmiri Hindu brides before their weddings, ABC 7 Los Angeles reported.
“They took my dejhoor, my mother’s and my grandmother’s,” Priyanka told the station. “I mean, that’s ancestral jewelry that’s been in our family for so long and it’s priceless. That’s really the most important thing that we want back.”
Fullerton police confirmed to KTLA they are investigating the incident, but did not provide further details.
It’s unclear what the dollar value of the stolen goods were. No arrests have been reported.
“I’m still shaking. It is nerve-racking and it should not happen to anybody,” Vijay told ABC 7 LA.
