83-year-old T.O. woman robbed at gunpoint
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Surveillance video MOOD SWING- A look at the man who police say robbed an 83-year-old woman inside Hampshire Jewelry in Thousand Oaks.

A man who charmed an 83year-old female jewelry store worker before pointing a handgun at her head and forcibly removing her diamond wedding ring is being sought by authorities.

After coming into Hampshire Jewelry in Thousand Oaks earlier in the week and again at around 10 a.m. on Saturday, the dark-haired man's image was caught on surveillance video when he returned to the store at about 2:30 p.m.

Each time the man visited the store, he pretended to be shopping for an engagement ring, store owner Janet Dill said. A photo from the tape depicts a man wearing a white sweatshirt and light-colored blue jeans. He looked relaxed as he calmly spoke to Dill's mother, Pat Curts, whose husband, Bert, 83, was sitting nearby.

Then the customer pulled out a hidden handgun and pointed it at Pat Curts' head. He grabbed at her diamond ring and pulled, forcing it over the swollen knuckles of her arthritic finger.

The armed man left the store with Pat Curts' diamond ring, which had been her mother's wedding band, the diamond ring he had looked at earlier, and a loose diamond, Dill said.

"He told her he'd kill her. She kept telling him, 'Don't do this. Don't do this,'" Dill said.

The Curts have worked at the jewelry store for 27 years.

The person police are seeking, described as a clean-cut white male, 30 to 35 years old, with a buzz haircut, blue eyes and a stocky build, may be the same man suspected in similar robberies of the Décor Store on Aug. 20 and Just for Guys on Sept. 14.

The sheriff's department has asked anyone with information about the robbery or the identity of the man shown in the surveillance photo to call major crime investigators at (805) 494-8201.

Ventura County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and filing of a criminal complaint against the person responsible for the crime.

Police said callers remain anonymous and the call is not recorded. Crime Stoppers is at (805) 494-8255 (TALK).