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Yesterday, an employee of Pretzelmaker at the Bayshore Mall emailed the Outpost with a news tip nearly as hot and delicious as those salted knots of freshly baked dough.

“Mall Robbery Harry Ritchies,” the subject line read. The body of the email offered details: “An individual ran up to a jewelry display case, smashed it, and ran off with a tray of about 5-10 rings. Not sure how much everything was worth … .”

About $20, turns out.

According to Laura Montagna, public information officer with the Eureka Police Department, the fake-jewel thief launched his brazen caper around 12:30 Monday afternoon, and it went down exactly as our pretzel-making friend reported.

Officers responded to the scene but were unable to locate the suspect. Nor has the department released a description.

Since the jewelry was fake and there were apparently no weapons involved, this might well have been a misdemeanor, “but the glass display was broken and that is going to be a vandalism charge,” Montagna said.

Anyone with information on this underachieving jewel bandit is asked to call the Eureka Police Department at 707-441-4044.