$20K in jewelry reported stolen from pancake breakfast booth

A woman told police officers that someone stole more than $20,000 worth of handmade jewelry that she had planned to sell from a booth on the Plaza during Santa Fe’s annual Fourth of July pancake breakfast.

The vendor, who set up a tent for the 42nd annual Pancakes on the Plaza event sponsored by the Rotary Club of Santa Fe Foundation, reported that sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning, a thief made off with the jewelry, as well as cash and other items left in the tent overnight.

Greg Gurulé, Santa Fe police spokesman, said in an email that the event organizer “refused police services and did not hire overnight security to protect the booths.”

Gurulé said the organizer instead “paid the peddle bike touring company operating in the downtown area to watch the booths.”

When read Gurulé’s statement, Terry Williams-Keffer, who was the independent event coordinator for the breakfast, replied, “Never would we have refused police assistance.”

She did say that the organizers for the past seven or so years have hired individuals who also work as pedicab drivers to make sure children do not mess with audio and refrigeration equipment overnight.

But Williams-Keffer said most of the vendors who took

part in the event would have known not to leave that amount of jewelry in the tents overnight; the vendors should know that the sponsors do not hire private, uniformed security and there is no overnight police protection.

Williams-Keffer said the organization expects the police department to bill them for providing about six police officers and four animal control officers to watch over the holiday gathering.

Last year, she said, event organizers and police got into a dispute about the bill for police coverage. Williams-Keffer said police billed them for $4,800 but agreed to drop the cost to $1,200. She said the organization has not yet been billed for the daytime police assistance at this year’s breakfast.