Thieves targeted a Meriden optometry office for the second time in five months, and this time the culprit made off with a dozen pairs of Ray-Ban prescription frames worth more than $2,000, according to the doctor.
Dr. Craig Nielsen, who practices at 105 Broad Street in Meriden, said a thief walked in Wednesday afternoon while employees were busy helping other customers. He swiped the frames while store associates were distracted.
“He was just so brazen. He went right to where he knew they were, grabbed them, didn’t care there were five or six other people in the office at the time and he didn’t seem to care or even notice,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen said he installed security cameras after someone made off with five pairs of frames five months ago. Footage from Wednesday shows the culprit trying on pair after pair of glasses and stuffing them into his jacket.
Staff members said they didn’t realize what was happening until the man left and they reviewed the video.
"It was amazing that he could be so callous to not look around and notice cameras, which are in plain view," Nielsen said.
The optometrist, who has been in business for 27 years, said he’ll be making changes to the store setup in an effort to thwart a third incident.
Local
"We're going to put in a second monitor so we can actually watch it from the back room when people are in back," Nielsen explained. "And we're going to move the Ray-Bans so they are a little harder to get to and hope that we don't have another incident."
It's not clear if the two robberies are connected. Store employees said they did not recognize the man whose image was captured in Wednesday's incident. He said nothing, just waved when he walked in, according to Nielsen.
Police are investigating the robbery. Anyone with information is urged to call Meriden police at 203-630-6215.
