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Heist nets burglars $50,000 in coins from 72-year-old SA man's store

A Leon Valley coin shop was robbed of $50,000-worth of coins after burglars pulled off an intricate heist to steal the loot.

Burglars made a hole in the roof of a Leon Valley coin shop in the middle of the night, climbed into the store, disabled the alarm system, and then used a power tool to break through a five-inch thick safe made of steel and concrete, all to get away with $50,000 worth of rare coins and currency.

Larry Harmon, 72, owns the coin store and has been building his coin collection since he was 12 years old.

"I've done it all my life,” he said. “It's very interesting.”

The burglars spent almost four hours breaking into Harmon's safe. Surveillance cameras in the front of the store were able to capture video of the suspects checking the front door and looking around near the cash register.

"The items they did take all had value. They handled but left behind many items that had very little value or not so much value, so they primarily knew what they were looking for," Harmon said.

Almost two years ago, Harmon's store was broken into through a neighboring unit. In that event, the intruders made a hole in the bathroom wall but didn't take anything. Harmon suspects the burglars from the recent March 12 incident were the same as the ones who broke in a few years ago because they used the bathroom hole to escape.

Harmon says, more than the money, many of the stolen items had a special place in his heart.

"It's not just the value of the item, it's the fact that I've had them so long, and every time I look at them I enjoy them and it brings back a memory," he said.

The owners of Gabriel's Liquor store across the street from the Texas Coins and Precious Metals store on the 6800 block of Bandera road say that they were broken into in a very similar way on March 22 and $2500 worth of items were stolen.

Harmon is offering a $5000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this case. That is in addition to the Crime Stoppers reward of $5000. If you have any information regarding this case you can call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP (7867).

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