Another JCPenney Store Hit By Jewelry Thieves

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Another break-in at a JCPenney department store was reported Friday in San Diego County, police said.

The break-in at the JCPenney department store in Carlsbad's Plaza Camino Real Mall was reported at 4:12 a.m., said a Carlsbad Police Department dispatcher.

The JCPenney at an Escondido mall was burglarized Wednesday, when masked robbers broke into the store and took more than $100,000 worth of jewelry, police said. Losses from today's burglary were not immediately announced.

The break-ins are believed to be part of a yearlong string of nearly a dozen similar burglaries recorded statewide, including one last month in El Cajon.

The culprits in the Escondido burglary focused on gold, which is trading as high as $1,000 per ounce, according to Lt. Craig Carter of the Escondido Police Department.

Surveillance video shows a group of burglars dressed in dark clothes and wearing ski masks, he said.

JCPenney is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the those who have burglarized the company's stores in the past year.