Hyde Park Jewelers’ flagship store inside the Cherry Creek Shopping Center is seen on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (BusinessDen file)
At 11:30 p.m. on July 21 of last year, a security guard at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center peered through the polished storefront glass of the high-end Hyde Park Jewelers.
An alarm had summoned the guard to the store, which held at least $20 million worth of watches and fine jewelry, but nothing appeared amiss as the guard peeked in.
False alarm, they thought.
Four hours earlier, four people dressed as construction workers in hard hats and reflective vests had strolled into the upscale Denver mall carrying an array of power tools: saws, drills, blowtorches. They then entered a store bordering Hyde Park, cut a hole through the wall, walked into the jewelry store, and spraypainted its security cameras black.
So, as that security guard was staring at Hyde Park’s storefront, the criminal quartet was rifling through the store’s vault and safes, bagging Rolexes and Tudors and more.
They would remain for another four hours, amassing $12.3 million in jewelry, before leaving at 3:30 a.m. in the same F-150 with missing license plates that they had arrived in, according to an affidavit Denver Police Det. William Monahan filed Feb. 12. A Hyde Park employee arriving to work at 4:50 a.m., more than nine hours after the break-in, was the first to report it.
Monahan’s account, spread across 21 pages and released to news outlets this week, is the first to reveal the yield and sophistication of the overnight burglary. BusinessDen reported on the crime in the days after it occurred but Hyde Park and law enforcement repeatedly refused to release details or documents about the robbery in the eight months that followed.
Gustavo Ignacio Salas Ortega, 33, allegedly took part in the July 2024 burglary. (FBI)
Much of the detective’s affidavit follows his efforts to track the movements of the F-150 and its occupants, both before and after July 21. Cameras placed them on eastbound I-70 into Denver in the week before the crime, in an employee-only area of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center four days before, at a Lowe’s store in Westminster on the day of the break-in, where one of the suspects allegedly stole black spray paint, and on I-70 westbound after the crime.
Using data gleaned from cell towers, Denver police tracked the phones of at least one of the suspects, first to Florida and later to New York. In mid-October, they warned Empire State investigators that the crew may strike both a Tiffany store and watch shop in a mall by breaking into a unit between the two that was under construction. While surveilling that mall, police noticed an SUV that sped away when approached. Its occupants were arrested.
The three Chileans and one Peruvian national included Gustavo Ignacio Salas Ortega, who is said to have a history of robberies and burglaries in Chile and Ecuador. Phones belonging to the four allegedly included directions to Hyde Park and other Denver jewelry stores, searches for blowtorch accessories, details about other burglaries, and photos of heisted jewelry.
In late January, the FBI showed some of those images to Hyde Park CEO Damon Gross, who noticed a custom-made, butterfly-shaped gold earring that was lifted from his store last summer, according to Monahan’s affidavit, which accuses Salas Ortega of theft and second-degree burglary. The defendant, who is in custody in New Jersey, has not been charged here.
Salas Ortega, a 33-year-old Chilean national who also uses the alias Sabino Alfredo Farfan Ortiz, was arrested on Oct. 14 in Rochelle Park, N.J., according to court records.
In New Jersey, he faces one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property that had crossed state lines and one count of receiving such property. An accompanying affidavit accuses him of being part of a “South America theft group” with recent victims in several states.
Specifically, the defendant is accused of surveilling a shopping mall jewelry store in Millburn, N.J., on the day before five suspects disabled an alarm system, cut a hole in the store’s wall, shattered display cases, and made off with jewelry. Salas Ortega was allegedly wearing an $11,000 watch stolen from the store when he was arrested, according to the FBI.
“These alleged criminals are part of South American theft groups who have been targeting stores throughout the United States for months,” Terence Reilly, who runs the FBI’s Newark office, said in a press release that thanked Denver police. “These alleged thieves have worked equally hard to evade law enforcement as they have to infiltrate the very businesses they have ripped off. This charge marks a positive step forward towards dismantling this group.”
Earlier this month, Salas Ortega’s attorney asked that a hearing in his case be delayed.
“The charges in this case result from an investigation of activities in multiple states, including substantial video evidence, and defense counsel requires adequate time to review and discuss with the defendant,” Mary Toscano wrote in her motion, which was quickly granted.
Toscano declined to comment on the Denver allegations against her client Thursday.
Hyde Park’s store in Cherry Creek. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
Though law enforcement eyed possible connections, Salas Ortega’s names and age do not match those of four South American men arrested for allegedly robbing an Aspen jewelry store in November. A fifth participant in that crime has not been identified by police.
The Denver Police Department and District Attorney’s Office declined to release documents that they have related to Salas Ortega and his arrest.
The Taubman Company in Michigan owns the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Mike Wilson, the mall’s general manager, said in an email Thursday that safety is the top priority there.
“Accordingly, we have a robust security program that includes a close partnership with the Denver Police Department that deploys both on-duty and off-duty local police working along our onsite security team. This is complimented by a robust CCTV security surveillance system and used in conjunction with other related measures that we do not specifically disclose.”
Michael Pollak and Steven Rosdal founded Hyde Park in 1976. Rosdal sold his stake in the company to Pollak in 2007 and Pollak sold Hyde Park to The 1916 Company in 2023.
“We are not going to issue any further comments,” a 1916 spokeswoman said Thursday.
Hyde Park Jewelers’ flagship store inside the Cherry Creek Shopping Center is seen on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (BusinessDen file)
At 11:30 p.m. on July 21 of last year, a security guard at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center peered through the polished storefront glass of the high-end Hyde Park Jewelers.
An alarm had summoned the guard to the store, which held at least $20 million worth of watches and fine jewelry, but nothing appeared amiss as the guard peeked in.
False alarm, they thought.
Four hours earlier, four people dressed as construction workers in hard hats and reflective vests had strolled into the upscale Denver mall carrying an array of power tools: saws, drills, blowtorches. They then entered a store bordering Hyde Park, cut a hole through the wall, walked into the jewelry store, and spraypainted its security cameras black.
So, as that security guard was staring at Hyde Park’s storefront, the criminal quartet was rifling through the store’s vault and safes, bagging Rolexes and Tudors and more.
They would remain for another four hours, amassing $12.3 million in jewelry, before leaving at 3:30 a.m. in the same F-150 with missing license plates that they had arrived in, according to an affidavit Denver Police Det. William Monahan filed Feb. 12. A Hyde Park employee arriving to work at 4:50 a.m., more than nine hours after the break-in, was the first to report it.
Monahan’s account, spread across 21 pages and released to news outlets this week, is the first to reveal the yield and sophistication of the overnight burglary. BusinessDen reported on the crime in the days after it occurred but Hyde Park and law enforcement repeatedly refused to release details or documents about the robbery in the eight months that followed.
Gustavo Ignacio Salas Ortega, 33, allegedly took part in the July 2024 burglary. (FBI)
Much of the detective’s affidavit follows his efforts to track the movements of the F-150 and its occupants, both before and after July 21. Cameras placed them on eastbound I-70 into Denver in the week before the crime, in an employee-only area of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center four days before, at a Lowe’s store in Westminster on the day of the break-in, where one of the suspects allegedly stole black spray paint, and on I-70 westbound after the crime.
Using data gleaned from cell towers, Denver police tracked the phones of at least one of the suspects, first to Florida and later to New York. In mid-October, they warned Empire State investigators that the crew may strike both a Tiffany store and watch shop in a mall by breaking into a unit between the two that was under construction. While surveilling that mall, police noticed an SUV that sped away when approached. Its occupants were arrested.
The three Chileans and one Peruvian national included Gustavo Ignacio Salas Ortega, who is said to have a history of robberies and burglaries in Chile and Ecuador. Phones belonging to the four allegedly included directions to Hyde Park and other Denver jewelry stores, searches for blowtorch accessories, details about other burglaries, and photos of heisted jewelry.
In late January, the FBI showed some of those images to Hyde Park CEO Damon Gross, who noticed a custom-made, butterfly-shaped gold earring that was lifted from his store last summer, according to Monahan’s affidavit, which accuses Salas Ortega of theft and second-degree burglary. The defendant, who is in custody in New Jersey, has not been charged here.
Salas Ortega, a 33-year-old Chilean national who also uses the alias Sabino Alfredo Farfan Ortiz, was arrested on Oct. 14 in Rochelle Park, N.J., according to court records.
In New Jersey, he faces one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property that had crossed state lines and one count of receiving such property. An accompanying affidavit accuses him of being part of a “South America theft group” with recent victims in several states.
Specifically, the defendant is accused of surveilling a shopping mall jewelry store in Millburn, N.J., on the day before five suspects disabled an alarm system, cut a hole in the store’s wall, shattered display cases, and made off with jewelry. Salas Ortega was allegedly wearing an $11,000 watch stolen from the store when he was arrested, according to the FBI.
“These alleged criminals are part of South American theft groups who have been targeting stores throughout the United States for months,” Terence Reilly, who runs the FBI’s Newark office, said in a press release that thanked Denver police. “These alleged thieves have worked equally hard to evade law enforcement as they have to infiltrate the very businesses they have ripped off. This charge marks a positive step forward towards dismantling this group.”
Earlier this month, Salas Ortega’s attorney asked that a hearing in his case be delayed.
“The charges in this case result from an investigation of activities in multiple states, including substantial video evidence, and defense counsel requires adequate time to review and discuss with the defendant,” Mary Toscano wrote in her motion, which was quickly granted.
Toscano declined to comment on the Denver allegations against her client Thursday.
Hyde Park’s store in Cherry Creek. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
Though law enforcement eyed possible connections, Salas Ortega’s names and age do not match those of four South American men arrested for allegedly robbing an Aspen jewelry store in November. A fifth participant in that crime has not been identified by police.
The Denver Police Department and District Attorney’s Office declined to release documents that they have related to Salas Ortega and his arrest.
The Taubman Company in Michigan owns the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Mike Wilson, the mall’s general manager, said in an email Thursday that safety is the top priority there.
“Accordingly, we have a robust security program that includes a close partnership with the Denver Police Department that deploys both on-duty and off-duty local police working along our onsite security team. This is complimented by a robust CCTV security surveillance system and used in conjunction with other related measures that we do not specifically disclose.”
Michael Pollak and Steven Rosdal founded Hyde Park in 1976. Rosdal sold his stake in the company to Pollak in 2007 and Pollak sold Hyde Park to The 1916 Company in 2023.
“We are not going to issue any further comments,” a 1916 spokeswoman said Thursday.
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