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Denver’s $12 Million Hyde Park Jewelers Burglary Still Unresolved After a Year August 22, 2025 (0 comments)
Denver, CO--A year after four criminals stole $12.3 million in jewelry from Hyde Park Jewelers in Denver's Cherry Creek Shopping Center, only one suspect has been arrested and charged, according to a report by BusinessDen.
[Image via iStockphoto.com]
The burglary took place on July 21, 2024, when four people disguised as construction workers entered the mall in a Ford F-150 with no license plate. They cut through a wall into Hyde Park Jewelers, disabled cameras with spray paint, and spent the night looting. Despite an alarm going off around 11:30 p.m., a mall guard dismissed it as false. By 5 a.m., the burglars had fled with Rolex, Tudor, and other high-value pieces.
Per the report, detective William Monahan's affidavit stated that the suspects had scouted the site in advance and even stole spray paint hours before the crime. Cell tower data and surveillance placed them in Denver in the days leading up to the heist.
Afterward, they drove to California. By October, police tracked one of them, 33-year-old Gustavo Ignacio Salas Ortega, to New York. He and three others — three Chileans and a Peruvian — were arrested. Phones linked to the group contained directions to Denver jewelry stores, blowtorch-related searches, and photos of stolen items, the report noted.
Two suspects were later released, one was detained on immigration grounds, and only Ortega faced charges — not in Colorado, but in New Jersey. He is accused of conspiracy to receive stolen property and was allegedly involved in a separate burglary at a Millburn, New Jersey jewelry store. FBI officials said he was wearing an $11,000 stolen watch at the time of his arrest. In January 2025, Hyde Park CEO Damon Gross identified stolen pieces from Ortega's phone, but no Denver charges have followed.
"These alleged thieves have worked equally hard to evade law enforcement as they have to infiltrate the very businesses they have ripped off," FBI Newark official Terence Reilly said in February, as per the report.
Learn more in this article by Business Den.