Thief smashes window, steals $10,000 in jewelry from SLO County art gallery
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- A thief broke a small front-door window to enter a Cambria art gallery early Wednesday.
- About $10,000 worth of sterling silver art jewelry was taken from six shelves.
- An employee discovered the burglary at 8:45 a.m., and the sheriff filed a report.
A thief broke into a longtime Cambria art gallery early Wednesday morning and made off with about $10,000 worth of art jewelry by climbing in and out of a small broken window.
“It’s the first time in our 33 years in business here that something like this has happened,” Shelley Woeste, general manager of Artifacts Gallery told The Tribune.
The gallery is owned by Thad Markham is at 775 Main St. in the town’s West Village shopping district.
About 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, Woeste said, the thief broke a window in one of the gallery’s front doors, swiped sterling silver jewelry from six shelves and then climbed back out through the same hole.
There apparently was no other exit choice, she said.
“The door is deadbolted from both sides,” she said, and the gallery has alarm systems in place.
She described stones on the jewelry as ranging from turquoise and moonstones to variegated blue larimar stone; some also were set with paua shell from New Zealand.
Employee Lou Garcia discovered the crime when he arrived to work at 8:45 a.m. He then called Woeste, who notified the SLO County Sheriff’s Office, she said. The deputy filed a report on the burglary, launching an investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a Tribune request for comment as of Thursday.
This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 11:21 AM.
