The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a very unusual crime, one that sounds like a movie.

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Captain Scott Behrns says a 67 year old diamond and precious metals dealer who was heading home from a trade show in Chicago made a stop at the I-90 rest stop near Marion around midnight.

The man and four employees who were travelling with him went to use the restroom, leaving two others behind in his van.  Moments later, four men jumped out of another van and broke some of the windows of the dealer’s vehicle and made off with an unknown quantity of loose diamonds and jewelry.

One of the employees still in the dealer’s vehicle rammed the van the thieves were in but they were able to drive off. Their abandoned van was later located along I-90 about a mile away.

 Behrns says his department is requesting assistance from the FBI.   The stolen diamonds and jewelry had a minimum value of $500,000.

Behrns says the victim of the heist is not from Minnesota.

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