Mission Viejo : 2 Masked Men Surprise Jewelry Store Owners

Two masked gunmen took jewelry worth an estimated $1 million from a Mission Viejo store Friday morning, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

The men, wearing dark masks, gloves and dark blue jackets, were waiting inside Ipek Jewelry Inc. when the owners arrived, the spokesman said, and forced the owners to open a safe in the rear of the store. Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson said it was not known how they gained entry.

The gunmen took what one owner described as $500,000 to $1 million worth of custom jewelry, watches and rings from the safe, but they took no merchandise from the display cases, Olson said.

Owner Ivin Ipek, 41, “apparently didn’t move fast enough” in opening the safe and one of the men struck him over the head with a gun, Olson said. He described Ipek’s injury as “very minor.”

Ipek and his wife, Pervin Ipek, 38, were bound and gagged but were able to free themselves and telephone the sheriff’s office after the men left. The Ipeks declined to comment on the robbery.