Customer, owner still have no answers on jewelry store robbery

OZARK - Gladys Roberts was known for her extensive jewelry collection, some pieces of which were worth thousands of dollars.
When she died two years ago, her husband, John Roberts, placed at least two of her diamond rings, valued at $15,495, in consignment at Harbin Jewelers in Ozark.
The rings are among the jewelry stolen when burglars climbed through the roof of the 30-year-old jewelry store in July.
But Roberts said what’s worse than losing the valuable pieces is losing them and not getting any answers from anyone on whether the jewelry was protected by some form of store insurance.
“At my age material things don’t really matter. I wouldn’t have minded if someone would let me know something. But almost four months have gone by and it seems that I will never be compensated for my loss,” Roberts said. “...That’s very disappointing, especially when I’ve bought locally about $60,000 worth of jewelry over the years.”
Harbin store owner Gary Harbin said Roberts is among about 200 customers who lost thousands of dollars worth of jewelry in the burglary. While Harbin said his customers’ jewelry was insured by at least two of his five insurance companies, he said the companies appear to be backing down from the coverage.
Harbin said he has instead worked to settle with customers out of his own pockets by either trading them other jewelry or by paying them for their loss. Many of the customers have been kind enough to file the loss on their own insurance, he said, while some have sought other ways to recover the value.
Harbin said it will likely take at least five years for him to make up for the financial loss in the burglary.
“A lot of times what your insurance gives you on page one they take away on pages 43 through 53. But I’ve always believed in taking care of the customer first and trying to make the people happy. For some of them it’s giving them their money back,” Harbin said. “But I can say that 99 percent of our customers are still happy with how we’re handling it and support us. My friends in the jewelry business are also helping us...”
Ozark Deputy Police Chief Myron Williams said earlier there had yet to be any arrests in the burglary. He could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Harbin said he has not heard anything concerning the investigation from the Ozark Police Department.
“It’s been four months and I don’t believe I’ve ever gotten a call from any leadership at the city or police department. Investigators Larry Minton and Kristin Atwell have called, but that’s been it,” Harbin said.
Roberts said he was not sure of the investigation, but cared more that people get answers from Harbin.
“I want people to know that if they leave their valuables somewhere for any reason they need to make sure the place is adequately insured,” he said.
“Things happen, and they’re unfortunate, but I don’t want anyone to find out the hard way as I have that you can lose a lot by not asking some questions.”