Saugus mall robbery may be connected to others

Police say the theft of more than $10,000 worth of jewelry Thursday from a mall store in Salem, N.H. may be related to a similar crime last week at Square One Mall in Saugus.Police in Salem, N.H. say surveillance video shows three well-dressed men breaking into display cases at the Piercing Pagoda at the Rockingham Park Mall at about 8 a.m. Thursday.Police said the men entered the mall through a service entrance and proceeded directly to the kiosk. Two of the men went inside the kiosk and pried open a locked cabinet. The two then stuffed jewelry into backpacks while the third acted as a lookout. The trio then quickly left through the same entrance and drove away in an older, white Toyota with a sunroof, according to a published report.A crowbar and other evidence was recovered inside the mall.Police said they are investigating whether the robbery is connected to similar crimes at nearby malls. Surveillance pictures from Square One on Route 1 south in Saugus last week show two men using a hammer to break into another Piercing Pagoda and police said a similar robbery recently took place at Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers.A unit of jewelry retailer Zale Corporation, Piercing Pagoda also operates a kiosk at Northshore Mall in Peabody. The unit targets younger customers at nearly 675 kiosks in the United States and Puerto Rico.(Associated Press material was used in this report.)