Florida mall robbery: Thieves punched a hole in the mall’s ceiling and stole $50,000 worth of sneakers

The Thieves took “Just Do It” to a whole new level.

Masked thieves tore a hole in the concrete roof of a Florida shopping center before breaking in to steal between 400 and 500 pairs of Nike and New Balance sneakers, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office announced this week.

According to authorities, the robbery occurred in the rear warehouse of Champs Sporting Goods at Treasure Coast Mall in Jensen Beach between midnight and 8 a.m. Tuesday.

“They’re not exactly the Crown Jewels, but it’s clear that these sneaker thieves put just as much time and effort into their crime,” the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said. he said in a social media post. “The stolen merchandise was bagged, labeled, thrown from the roof and loaded into a getaway vehicle. As you can see, some of the property was hastily abandoned.”

The stolen merchandise is estimated to be worth between $40,000 and $50,000 and repairing the hole will cost $10,000, according to the sheriff’s office.

At a news conference Wednesday, Sheriff John Budensiek said the daring robbery looked like something straight out of a movie.

“We had a robbery that we discovered yesterday that is straight out of ‘Mission: Impossible,'” Budensiek said. “I watched the national news, I watched what happened across the pond, where the crown jewels were stolen, and this is something unique,” ​​he said, referring to the Louvre jewel heist over the weekend.

“These are organized criminals who are likely traveling criminals who came to Martin County and took a significant amount of product,” he added. “They didn’t do that with a hand saw. They used power tools, probably a grinder or saw, and somehow worked for hours without being detected.”

The crime is still being investigated, but tips can be reported to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office at 772-220-7060.