Reposted from San Diego Union Tribune

All the other times the alarm tripped at the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Museum, it was, well, a false alarm. Still, when the alarm notification came early that Sunday morning, treasurer Michael Palculich had to drag himself down to the building to reset it.

But this time would be different.

Palculich and his wife got to the museum on Alvarado Street, just west of Main Street, not long after 4 a.m. to find the wrought-iron security gate open and the glass doors behind it broken.

“We were shocked,” he said last week. “It was a crime scene at that point.”

Fallbrook Sheriff’s Detective Joel Couch said the thief or thieves who busted into the building on Sept. 10 smashed four glass display cases, grabbing a number of items.

Museum officials say they lost five notable pieces from the treasured tourmaline collection, including two remarkable 9-inch-long pink and green pieces from North County mines. One of them had been donated to the museum by a doctor years ago, in memory of his late wife.

“Why? Why would you take those things?” said Mary Fong/Walker, past vice president of the society that runs the museum.

The burglars, Fong/Walker said, “took the most iconic and valuable specimens” from the display of tourmaline mined in San Diego County. Also gone were 13 rough and cut sets. Some were tourmaline; the others included gems such as emerald, topaz and garnet.

“This is definitely not what anybody expected to happen, especially such a small museum in a sleepy town,” Fong/Walker said.

She said the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Society has more than 100 members, and that she has been a part of the group for more than 25 years.

Fong/Walker, who works in the gem and mineral industry, declined to speculate on the monetary value of the five tourmaline pieces, which she said have been featured in special exhibits at mineral expositions around the world.

“You can’t put a price on something that is one of a kind,” she said.

Depending on the size and quality of the gemstones, they can fetch as little as a few dollars up to thousands of dollars.

News of the theft, she said, felt “kind of like having your heart ripped out of you.” There has never been a burglary — much less a smash-and-grab heist — at the museum. The place is run by volunteers, and Fong/Walker said everyone remains shocked by what happened.

“It’s such a big-hearted organization, and to violate that...” Fong/Walker said, trailing off.

Repairs have been made to the doors and display cases, but the free museum remains closed for now. It will reopen for the annual Fall Festival of Gems, a street fair right outside its doors, on Oct. 8.

Anyone with information about the burglary or missing pieces can call the Fallbrook substation at (760) 451-3100.

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