Thieves make off with large haul of jewelry

A 70-year-old Carson City woman is asking for the public's help to retrieve the contents of her stolen safe that contained $450,000 worth of custom jewelry.

Lang Bongers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for stealing a safe Jan. 20 from her home on Conte Drive. Secret Witness also will pay up to $2,500.

"It breaks our heart she's worked all her life for these belongings and now some scumbag comes in and just takes it," said Carol Bongers-Earle, 38, Bongers' daughter, on Wednesday.

Lang Bongers noticed the safe was stolen at 6 p.m. last Thursday after returning home from work and seeing a hand truck standing where she would normally park her car. Nothing else was missing in her home.

The safe also contained personal items she brought with her to the United States.

"Items that she brought back when she was able to escape the war in Vietnam ... that's what was primarily taken," Bongers-Earle said, with tears in her eyes.

Lang Bongers immigrated to the United States in 1973 after her daughter was born in Vietnam. She moved to Northern Nevada to be with family, eventually opening MJ Beauty Salon, 1778 Airport Road, which she and Bongers-Earle still run.

Her husband died three years ago and her family runs a number of nail salons and restaurants in the region.

Det. Daniel Gonzales with the Carson City Sheriff's Office said the safe is black, shiny and about 2 feet wide and 5 feet tall.

"In that was roughly $450,000 worth of custom jewelry," Gonzales said. "It was a little bit of everything, jade, diamonds, gold, white gold, watches."

The crime would result in charges of residential burglary and grand larceny.

Gonzales asked the public that, "If they've seen anything, if they've heard anything, if anybody has come up with a large sum of jewelry or if anybody has tried to come in and pawn or sell jewelry to businesses to please contact me here at the Sheriff's Office."

"Please, if anyone knows anything, we'll forever be indebted to them," Bongers-Earle said. "This is everything we had."