Jewelry worth about $60,000 stolen from vehicle in Mount Prospect

A Schaumburg man is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever stole an estimated $60,000 in jewelry from his wife's vehicle last week outside the Mount Prospect post office.

Ted Rachwal said his wife, Terencia, went to a Mount Prospect bank last Thursday to remove the jewelry from a safe-deposit box, intending to store it at a bank closer to home.

She left the bank with the jewelry in a bright green reusable grocery bag, which she then placed in the back of her vehicle, hidden under an empty cardboard box and a pillow, according to a police report.

Terencia then drove to the post office at 300 W. Central Road, arriving about 11:10 a.m., locked the car and left the vehicle, the report states. When she returned 20 minutes later, she found the rear driver's-side window broken and the green bag missing.

Police have arranged to obtain surveillance video from the post office. Police also requested surveillance video from the bank, and information about the stolen items will be entered into a police database.

"It's been a (heck) of a week, because her (mother) just died two weeks ago and then somebody smashed into her car and now this," Ted Rachwal said.

The stolen goods include a Rolex watch worth about $20,000 and a cross with diamonds given to her by her mother, he said.

"I can't believe nobody saw anything," Rachwal added. "He smashed the window. That's a busy post office there."

Anyone with information can call Mount Prospect police at (847) 870-5656.