deep
Blue Crack Addict
Vonda Simon -– a cosmetics entrepreneur, says she feels "violated, raped, sick".
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/simon-garage-scott-2203978-door-car
Woman feels violated !
Vonda Simon, of Newport Beach, left safe with her valuables in unlocked Bentley overnight.
By ANDREW GALVIN
The Orange County Register
NEWPORT BEACH – Vonda Simon admits she made "a stupid mistake" by leaving all of her jewelry in her unlocked car overnight.
Still, Simon – a cosmetics entrepreneur who says she worked for 20 years to buy the diamonds rings, necklaces, watches and earrings – feels "violated, raped, sick" that someone stole a small safe containing the items, which she had left behind in the passenger seat of her Bentley.
The car was parked in the garage of her home in a gated Newport Beach community, but the garage door was left open the night of the theft.
Simon, 47, and her husband, Scott, 48, estimate the jewelry, including her six-carat-diamond engagement ring and dozens of other pieces, is worth more than $500,000.
They're offering a $10,000, no-questions-asked reward for a safe return.
Simon returned from an eight-day business trip to Europe the night of Oct. 12. The safe had been sitting in her car, in the garage, for most of the time she was away. Upon arriving home, she checked to make sure it was there. Having it in the car was a reminder to take it to an appraiser the next day, because she feared the couple didn't have enough insurance to cover the jewels' full value.
"Before I went to Paris, I put everything together in the safe and said, 'Scott, here's all my jewels,' just because you do that when you leave, just in case," she said. "I wanted him to know where everything was, just so he has it, in his possession. And then we thought, let's get it appraised as well."
As she walked from the garage to the house after arriving home, tired from the journey and excited to see her two children, she either forgot to put down the garage door or the door malfunctioned and didn't close. Either way, the garage door was open all night.
It was a windy night. When Scott Simon rose at 7 a.m. the next morning, he found the garage full of leaves.
"Then all of a sudden I thought – oh my God, the safe's in the car,'' Scott Simon said. "I opened the door, and boom – it was gone."
The thief or thieves also took from the Bentley a Louis Vuitton planner with numerous photos of the Simons' children. They didn't take Scott Simon's wallet, which contained hundreds in cash and was in his Lincoln Navigator, parked next to the Bentley in the garage.
Vonda Simon, a former top cosmetics saleswoman, has since 1999 operated her own company, SeaCliff Beauty Packaging and Laboratories, in Irvine. The company does contract manufacturing for many of the best-known brands in the hair and skin care industries, she said.
"I want my stuff back so I'm – I worked so hard for everything I have," she said, her voice shaky with emotion. "I feel so naked. I just want them to please return it. It's not about money. … These were just things that I gave myself because I'm working 12 to 15 hour days."
Simon considers herself someone who lives her values of following a dream, being determined, and treating others well.
"Everyday I have nothing but positive vibes that go out to everybody, including these people who took this from me. I'm telling you right now, you can change your life, you can be different, you can turn yourself around, and I'm asking you please return my valuables to me," she said.
Insurance will only cover about $85,000 of the losses, Scott Simon said.
Sgt. Evan Sailor of the Newport Beach Police Department said the value of items stolen from the Simons is unusually large compared to other residential burglaries, which typically net perhaps $1,000 worth of goods. "This is not a normal case for us," he said.
Sailor said detectives are "checking pawn shops, eBay to see if somebody is trying to move a large amount of jewelry, because it is a large amount."
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/simon-garage-scott-2203978-door-car
