Fremont Jewelry Store Hit by Brazen Daylight Smash-and-Grab Robbery

Surveillance video released by the U.S. Department of Justice captures what federal prosecutors have called a "mob-style takeover": roughly two dozen masked, gloved suspects flooding into Kumar Jewelers in Fremont, California, on June 18, 2025, armed with picks, hammers, and backpacks, smashing display cases and stripping an estimated $1.7 million in gold and diamonds from the store's shelves in approximately 70 seconds.

The footage, also obtained by the Bay Area News Group through a public records request, shows employees fleeing to the back as the crew methodically destroyed case after case. The $1.7 million stolen represented 75 to 80 percent of Kumar Jewelers' entire inventory, the owner later estimated to prosecutors. For a family-owned storefront that has operated for more than three decades, the loss was nearly total.

Sheena Verma, whose parents own the store, said her mother, father, and one other worker were the only people inside when the robbery unfolded. Her husband was on the phone with her mother as it happened, and that is when Verma called authorities. "Of course, you can say blood, sweat, and tears, many years of work, and then within less than a minute, 15 people come in and just break everything," she said. She added: "This is my parents' life work, why can't they feel safe? And why can't they build the American dream like they're supposed to?"

Fremont police said the group used a car to ram into the storefront before the crew swarmed inside. After clearing the cases, the robbers fled into multiple stolen getaway vehicles that peeled off in different directions, forcing responding officers to choose which car to pursue. They focused on a Black Acura. Federal prosecutors described what followed in court filings: "During the pursuit, the Black Acura passed other vehicles on the wrong side of the road, ran stop signs at multiple intersections, and reached speeds of approximately 80 miles per hour while veering across lanes." Officers took four people into custody after locating one of the suspect vehicles, and federal charges against four individuals have since been filed. The investigation remained active, with authorities still seeking additional suspects.

Because the getaway vehicles were stolen, automated license plate readers provided no useful links to the suspects, according to court filings. Prosecutors noted that while robberies of this scale are rare, they are meticulously planned precisely to defeat the electronic surveillance systems that jewelry stores and law enforcement increasingly rely upon.

The Fremont heist did not stand alone. Three months after Kumar Jewelers was hit, dozens of suspects rushed into Heller Jewelers in San Ramon, a few East Bay cities away, knocking down cases and leaving with an estimated $1.7 million in jewelry, according to Contra Costa prosecutors. In that robbery, a stolen Honda smashed through the door as two gunmen held a security guard hostage; the crew was gone in approximately 90 seconds, leaving almost nothing behind. A suspect identified only by the surname Donegan was named by authorities as a suspected getaway driver in both the Fremont and San Ramon robberies.

Federal prosecutors' involvement signals that investigators view these coordinated East Bay heists as something beyond ordinary retail crime: a calculated, interstate-caliber operation designed to overwhelm small family businesses before anyone can react.