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Sorrel Sky scores

5½ years after heist, Durango gallery gets back bracelet, ring

It’s back at long last.

A diamond-bedecked gold and turquoise bracelet valued at $40,000, crafted by former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, that was stolen from his daughter’s jewelry store in Durango 5½ years ago is ready for sale again.

“I’m happy to have it again,” Campbell said Monday as he handled the piece in Sorrel Sky Gallery, which is owned by his daughter, Shanan Campbell Wells. “These are VS-1 diamonds, the highest quality in diamonds for their cut, color and clarity.”

Family members were uncertain if they’d ever set eyes on the bracelet again after a gun-wielding man snatched 60 pieces of jewelry, including the bracelet, on the evening of Nov. 17, 2008.

The total haul of the bandit, who ordered an employee to unlock two jewelry cases and then retreat to the back of the store, was more than $400,000.

The arrest of Brett Clinton Combs, then 28 years old, at his home in Las Vegas on Jan. 8, 2009, on an unrelated charge solved part of the puzzle. Authorities there recovered more than 20 pieces of jewelry – identified by Campbell’s trademark – in Combs’ home. The other pieces could have been swallowed by a black hole.

But about a month ago, Sorrel Sky employee Rose Ornella took a phone call from a California man who wondered if the gallery wanted to buy a bracelet like the one Sorrel Sky had advertised in Cowboys & Indians, a Western lifestyles magazine. The man identified himself and emailed a photo of the jewelry, including a ring by Campbell valued at $5,000.

It was recognized immediately as the missing piece, and the Durango Police Department was notified.

DPD Detective Joe Farmer, who was assigned the case, filled in the details.

John Stevens, who lives in Trabuco Canyon, an unincorporated community in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County, is a “melter,” a buyer of jewelry who intended to melt it for its gold, Farmer said.

Stevens acquired the bracelet in 2009 at a “gold party,” a gathering of people who buy, sell or trade jewelry, Farmer said.

Farmer checked the background of Stevens and found he was clean.

“He had no idea what he had,” Farmer said. “He was more than happy to return the bracelet when he learned what had happened.”

Without knowing what gold was selling for in 2009, Farmer estimated that Stevens was out a couple of thousand dollars.

Stevens, contacted by The Durango Herald by telephone Monday at his home, said he’d call back. He didn’t.

Brett Clinton Combs is serving 14 years in a federal prison on a weapons charge, Farmer said. Combs, who has an extensive criminal history, still must face charges in Durango and in New Mexico where items stolen in Durango were found, he said.

Combs is a suspect in six armed robberies in Durango, three each in 2005 and 2008. The Sorrel Sky robbery is one of the 2008 cases.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell has created jewelry for decades, particularly after his Senate term ended in 2005.

Campbell said he contacted more than a half-dozen gold buyers and visited jewelry shows in Denver, Albuquerque and Las Vegas in the years after the armed robbery in an effort to develop a lead.

The fact that he unearthed nothing raised hopes that the bracelet was still intact, Campbell said.

Shanan Campbell Wells said the recovery of the bracelet reduces the value of still unrecovered articles to about $60,000.

Campbell’s jewelry has been featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

daler@durangoherald.com

Sep 15, 2017
More than 300 pieces of jewelry stolen from Durango gallery


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