Robbery Robbed of Rolex Day Date 40 228206 in Southern California

[Modiferous]

I was contacted by RolexForums username
Ls702
https://www.rolexforums.com/member.php?u=273265
who called himself Jayden.

Jayden told me that his brother in law “Jason” was looking to buy a Day Date platinum 40, and made a reasonable offer for the watch. I asked for Jason’s cell phone number, which he gave as an area code 707 number.

Jason and Jayden are obviously the same person.

Jayden used a gmail address,
[email protected]

Jason a protonmail address,
[email protected]

Jason, who is African American, about 5’10 – 6’0” in height, medium build, shoulder length dreadlocks,
and I exchanged a number of texts and had several phone conversations over the course of the next few days. Jason claimed that he lived in northern California, came from Lake County, and was in the cannabis industry, as a former grower and current middle man between growers and dispensaries.

Jason provided me via text before I agreed to meet him, with his ID but the police and I have reason to believe that it was a fake ID (fake name Jason Bergman) or possibly not his own ID, but this is still being investigated. The picture on the ID was not of Jason, BUT…good video was taken of Jason and his vehicle during this robbery, and facial recognition may be used to track him down.

During the course of the conversations I received certain key details about Jason, which I will keep private for now, but if you are contacted or have been contacted by anyone fitting this description please PM me immediately because he may have targeted other victims.

Jason led me to believe that he was flying in from northern California that morning, and was taking an Uber from the airport to a jewelry store that he picked for authentication of the watch.

I arrived at the jewelry store some ten minutes before Jason. When Jason arrived, he reeked of marijuana and was dressed shabbily, in tan pants and a sort of down vest. As I was digesting this, and he realized that I was suspicious of him, he grabbed the case that contained my watch and ran out of the jewelry store. Unfortunately, this jewelry store failed to lock the door when we customers were inside, although later in the day, when another customer arrived, they did lock the door for that customer.

I chased Jason and actually caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder. He punched my arm away to break the grip I had on him, and ran into a parked beige SUV around the corner with California plates, and drove off. I probably could have caught him, and I am an athletic person and was angry enough to start pounding on him, but I had promised my wife before I started selling any watches in person that if it ever got to a situation where someone tried to get my watch, that I would just give it up and not struggle. This promise to my wife was in the back of my mind as I was chasing Jason.

When I first started chasing Jason, another African American male outside the store seemed to be blocking my way and shoving his cell phone in my face, saying, “Here’s my phone if you need to call the police.” I thought that he was in on the whole thing, and there to delay me, so I just ignored him. However, that guy stayed behind and gave his ID and name to the police, so I don’t think he was involved with the robbery, although the police are still investigating.

Again, if any of the above:
African American
Claiming to be in the cannabis industry
Claiming to be from Northern California
Very knowledgeable about the lack of availability of Rolexes from the AD
Knows that AD will not authenticate Rolexes
Seemed to know that a Rolex that is polished (mine was not) is worth more than one that has never been polished
Smooth talker talking about how he owns a stainless Daytona, and a couple of Audemars

Description again, African American, medium build 5’10” – 6’0”, shoulder length dreadlocks,

If anyone matching any of the above particulars has contacted or does contact you regarding sale or purchase of a watch, please PM me immediately as this is an active robbery investigation with the police.

I’ve hired a private investigator and a reward is being posted along with Jason’s pictures from the jewelry store video. If Jason wants to have the watch returned to the jewelry store, I will drop charges. Even in California, robbery is a serious crime. I was injured chasing him my ankle got twisted leaping over two railings to catch up to him and I can't walk very well today.

Robbed of Rolex Day Date 40 platinum 228206 in Southern California

[samson66]

That totally sucks. I think you just convinced me never to sell a watch in-person. Sorry to hear about this. I think the "works in the cannabis industry" may have scared me off beforehand. Hope they get him and you get your watch back.

[GoingPlaces]

Wow. Thats really too bad, sorry OP. I hope you get justice here. So fed up with crime.

Personally selling for me would be the same as buying, trusted sellers only. TRF has quite a few. I'll take a hit on price to know it's legit.

[NoVaSubowner]

Originally Posted by GoingPlaces

Wow. Thats really too bad, sorry OP. I hope you get justice here. So fed up with crime.

Personally selling for me would be the same as buying, trusted sellers only. TRF has quite a few. I'll take a hit on price to know it's legit.

Amen. Selling watches has recently become a time management issue. Now it seems it's a persona; safety issue. I would rather take an hour and call or email 5-10 known sellers. Difference in price between me selling privately vs a dealer isn't worth my time or my life...

[rolexgs]

i think the jewelry store might be connected to this robbery, they should have locked the door.

[szabo_martin]

Crazy he took it from you from inside the jewelry store. Wonder if they were in on it sonce he did choose them

[Watchwoody]

I would look into the jewelry store. Why didn’t they lock the door?

[rolexgs]

Originally Posted by Watchwoody

I would look into the jewelry store. Why didn’t they lock the door?

and also why the robber knows the door is not locked and he can get out freely after grabbing the watch, very suspicious.

[sunnyd]

Jewelry store looks to be in on it...especially if they locked the door for a subsequent customer after you. I'd be looking closely at them as well.

[train-time]

OMG! So sorry to hear this. Hope they catch the scumbag! The last face to face I did was over 10 years ago when the Forum was a smaller close-knit group, and most members knew each other. I did two such exchanges, but they were both well known Forum members. I wouldn't do any today, times are very different.

[Driver8]

Wow, what an absolute nightmare - I really hope they catch that scum, or at the very least you get the watch back OK, OP.

Makes me think how lucky I was a number of years ago when I sold my IWC Big Pilot (it was still over £10K even back then) and I met up with the buyer in the corner of the car park of a random motorway service station. Crazy thing to do looking back.

[Modiferous]

The robber picked that jewelry store because he knew that they are lax about locking the door. I phoned the store a couple days before the meeting to verify that they do in fact provide appraisals/verifications for Rolexes, and that was verified, but otherwise, once I saw that store I probably should have bailed on the whole deal because it was not a high end store and didn't look like a place that anyone looking to buy a platinum Day Date would even want his watch checked.

Looking back, a lot of red flags, but I have sold other watches face to face no problem, so those good people made me think that this guy might be a good person too. He turned out not to be.

[myk7000]

I got contacted by a person a while back regarding one of my watches on sale with an eerily similar set of details. His name was Jason Lox Bergman according to Chrono24, from Napa California, said he was willing to fly down to SoCal for an in person meeting to do the transaction.

He said he worked in the cannabis industry and he was African American. Nothing shows up under Jason Lox Bergman on Google, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I decided not to go through with it because of some red flag feelings I got during our conversation (we chatted on the phone) and his number was 707-307-4736.

Can't confirm if this is the same guy or not, and bad on me if this was an actual decent person trying to do a deal, but the details here are familiar...

[rlx123]

Originally Posted by myk7000

I got contacted by a person a while back regarding one of my watches on sale with an eerily similar set of details. His name was Jason Lox Bergman according to Chrono24, from Napa California, said he was willing to fly down to SoCal for an in person meeting to do the transaction.

He said he worked in the cannabis industry and he was African American. Nothing shows up under Jason Lox Bergman on Google, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I decided not to go through with it because of some red flag feelings I got during our conversation (we chatted on the phone) and his number was 707-307-4736.

Can't confirm if this is the same guy or not, and bad on me if this was an actual decent person trying to do a deal, but the details here are familiar...

Better to offend someone than losing your watch.


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[Modiferous]

myk7000 THAT IS THE SAME PERSON. He used the same name on the fake ID he created "Jason Bergman" with me. He lifted off the internet some stock photo of someone who looks a little like him to put into the fake ID he texted me before he meet up.

Because he arrived and left the robbery in an SUV with California plates, drove it himself, most likely he's a southern California resident who used to live in Lake County, CA and is just pretending to be flying down from northern California. Like I said, he left a lot of clues behind and if he doesn't return the watch he's going down for robbery which in California is usually a 5 year sentence, and a strike, and that's if he has a clean record.

When you are in a store and get videoed nowadays it isn't all that hard to identify you, especially with all the other clues this guy left behind.

[skipstar]

As a Police Officer and lover of watches I feel horrible for you and the experience that you went through. Definitely not worth loosing your life over by chasing him down.
Sounds like you have lots of descriptive information on the suspect so let the Detectives do what they do best and grab this guy.
Unfortunately be prepared for the watch to already be gone when they do catch him.

[rohada]

Terrible business this. What is the serial number and also report that serial number to Rolex, I suppose. Sorry this happened to you. I, too, sell watches face to face and you really have to keep your wits about you and trust your gut. I've long moved past being concerned about offending someone who puts off a bad vibe.

[Dr.Mehr]

Hope this criminal is caught and severely punished

[7enderbender]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mehr

Hope this criminal is caught and severely punished

No chance. Not in California.

[jimcameron]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mehr

Hope this criminal is caught and severely punished

Dr. Mehr, you may want to catch up on California Law.

The likelihood of severe punishment is near zero. Even if the thief is ever caught it is very likely he will not even have to post bail before rapid release from jail. After he walks out of jail without putting down so much as a penny, he will likely disappear into the mist.

[EEpro]

Originally Posted by jimcameron

Dr. Mehr, you may want to catch up on California Law.

The likelihood of severe punishment is near zero. Even if the thief is ever caught it is very likely he will not even have to post bail before rapid release from jail. After he walks out of jail without putting down so much as a penny, he will likely disappear into the mist.

[amphr1]

I think you conducted yourself admirably. And I'm glad all that was lost was material things. And I hope he's caught.

That being said, I think the buy the seller mantra also applies to the sell side. If something seems off, I would back out of the deal. I don't care if someone say I'm discriminatory. I'm not going to deal with anyone in the cannabis industry. And I realize that's not fair, especially because my most recent nanny's husband is in that industry and he's a perfectly nice guy. It's just whatever makes me uncomfortable, I rather not take the chance. I'd even back out if they're a heavy smoker of regular cigarettes. But that's just my personal stance on things. Others are better judge of character and don't have to resort to stereotype of baseless instincts.

[Jack T]

Was the watch insured??

[m3tek44]

I'm sorry to hear!! Sux to hear these type of robbery!

[Modiferous]

This watch was not insured. I have others that are, but not this one.

The guy put the cannabis industry line out there, because he is involved in it (he reeked of marijuana!), but also because as a con man he knew he couldn't come across, not highly educated and dressed shabbily as he was, as a professional person, so he picked the con that worked best with what he has to work with to try to explain why he could possibly afford such an expensive watch.

There no doubt are successful cannabis industry people, but this guy is obviously not one of them because he has to resort to robbery which has a serious risk of incarceration just to get by. Risking prison and separation from family/child is not a joke.

[rlx123]

Originally Posted by Modiferous

This watch was not insured. I have others that are, but not this one.

The guy put the cannabis industry line out there, because he is involved in it (he reeked of marijuana!), but also because as a con man he knew he couldn't come across, not highly educated and dressed shabbily as he was, as a professional person, so he picked the con that worked best with what he has to work with to try to explain why he could possibly afford such an expensive watch.

There no doubt are successful cannabis industry people, but this guy is obviously not one of them because he has to resort to robbery which has a serious risk of incarceration just to get by. Risking prison and separation from family/child is not a joke.

This guy is beyond worrying about risk of prison or lost of family. One day he will con the wrong person and they will take him out of the gene pool.


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[ArtNouveau]

My last face to face watch deal was some years ago meeting at a Starbucks. It was only for a $1500 watch and went smoothly but still made me nervous until it was over. Sorry this happened to you.
There was talk earlier about AD’s and their security. My Boutique doesn’t lock the door but they do limit how many people allowed in at a time and there is always an off-duty police officer sitting on a “throne” right by the front door. Although I never asked for it I think they will have someone escort you to your car if asked after a purchase.

[INC]

I'm very sorry to hear your story, but in the same time I'm really happy that you were not hurt!

Just a thought: There was no surveillance cameras in the shop or on the street at all? It sounds strange for me if in a place like this there were no HQ cameras installed!

[Modiferous]

Yes jb335 , that is the same criminal.

The username he created
Ls702 was created thirteen months ago, Jan 2022.

On the other hand, for another watch I had for sale, I was contacted by a brand new username, created just days before, zero feedback, and that buyer turned out to be completely legitimate and paid full asking price for my watch via bank wire after meeting in person.

As far as this criminal, he had studied the ways and means of high end transactions, and was quite versed in the lingo: talked about how he could bank wire, claimed he banked at Chase and Bank of America, and could get a cashier's check. The deal was supposed to go down with the watch being verified and then retained at the jewelry store, and then he and I going to the bank to get his cashier's check handed to me while I was standing next to him at the teller.

Of course, obviously the guy has no money, and was just looking for an opportunity to grab the watch and run. A series of circumstances allowed him to get away with it, for now.

Originally Posted by INC

I'm very sorry to hear your story, but in the same time I'm really happy that you were not hurt!

Just a thought: There was no surveillance cameras in the shop or on the street at all? It sounds strange for me if in a place like this there were no HQ cameras installed!

Yes there was good video taken of both the robber and his vehicle.

[Tridor]

Sorry to learn of your misfortune. Unfortunately, given the state of the world today, I am not surprised. I hope your watch is recovered in good shape, and that this guy gets the book thrown at him.