BRAZEN Roof Top Heist Stuns Jeweler

A brazen thief walked into a Woodland Hills jewelry store through the roof at 2:30 in the morning, grabbed $100,000 in merchandise in under ten minutes, and left behind a family facing a choice that cuts to the heart of urban decay in Los Angeles.

Quick Take

A solo burglar penetrated the roof of Nafiseh Jeweler on February 7, 2026, executing a ten-minute heist that netted approximately $100,000 in jewelry and silver.
The suspect’s face was fully visible on surveillance footage, yet he operated with apparent knowledge of store layout and camera blind spots, suggesting prior reconnaissance.
This marks the second major theft at the family-owned business in six months, following two home invasions that targeted the owners after they left the store.
Co-owner Touraj Nezafati declared the family would relocate to Orange County, stating the city is no longer safe after thirty years of operating in Los Angeles.
The incident reflects a broader pattern of roof-penetrating jewelry heists across Southern California, exploiting vulnerabilities that traditional ground-level security cannot address.

When Brazen Becomes the New Normal

The suspect descended through the ceiling like he owned the place. No mask. No gloves. No apparent concern that his face would be broadcast across local news the next morning. He moved through Nafiseh Jeweler with the confidence of someone who had studied the layout beforehand, avoiding camera angles and security vulnerabilities that most burglars would never discover. In under ten minutes, he filled bags with roughly $100,000 worth of merchandise and vanished into the pre-dawn darkness, leaving behind only an axe as evidence of his methodical work.

What distinguishes this heist from ordinary smash-and-grab robberies is the sheer audacity of the approach. Rather than battering through a front window or forcing a door, this burglar accessed the roof, cut through the ceiling, and navigated an eighteen-foot drop by crawling to a second-floor area. The alarm eventually triggered at 2:40 a.m., but by then the suspect was already gone. The Nezafati family arrived later that morning to discover the violation—not just of their store, but of their sense of security in a city they had called home for three decades.

The Anatomy of Repeat Victimization

This was not the first time. Six months earlier, around August 2025, Nafiseh Jeweler was burglarized. But the psychological toll escalated beyond that initial loss. Following the first burglary, the Nezafati family experienced two home invasions. Thieves had followed them from the store, tracking their movements and targeting their residence. Parents lost sleep. Children grew anxious. The boundary between work and home, between public and private space, collapsed. For a family business owner, this represents a nightmare scenario: your livelihood and your family’s safety become entangled targets.

The February 7 heist was the final straw. Touraj Nezafati, the co-owner and public voice for the family’s anguish, made a statement that resonates across Los Angeles: “It’s time to go from LA. LA has changed. The city is not safe anymore.” After thirty years, the calculation shifted. Staying meant accepting perpetual vulnerability. Leaving meant abandoning a business and a life built over generations. The family began planning a relocation to Orange County, where they hope to find the stability that Los Angeles no longer offers.

A Wider Pattern, A Systemic Failure

The Woodland Hills incident is not isolated. According to the Jewelers Security Alliance, roof-penetrating theft has become an increasingly sophisticated tactic across Southern California. Thieves, often working in organized groups, target jewelry stores during off-hours when foot traffic is minimal and alarm response times matter. They exploit roofs because ground-level security—cameras, reinforced doors, motion sensors—cannot defend against attacks from above. One documented case involved a family’s jewelry store being cleaned out while the owners vacationed, a scenario the Alliance describes as a “nightmare” for independent jewelers.

This pattern reflects a broader collapse of urban order in Los Angeles. Retail theft, organized retail crime, and brazen daytime robberies have created an exodus of businesses and residents. The Nezafatis are not unique in their decision to leave. They represent a growing category: long-term business owners whose faith in the city’s ability to protect them has eroded to the breaking point. Their departure will leave another empty storefront on Ventura Boulevard, another family’s legacy relocated elsewhere, another small piece of Los Angeles’s commercial fabric torn away.