An Austin watchmaker stole 13 watches worth over $63,000 from the jewelry store where he worked, then sold them to a friend to repay a debt, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Auston Mitchell Curry, 47, a master watchmaker at Austin Classic Watch and Jewelry at 6800 Burnet Road, allegedly took the watches home and, on April 14, told his boss Samuel Thomas that they had gone missing, an affidavit says. Thomas told police that no employee is allowed to take watches or jewelry home, according to the affidavit.
Thomas later did an inventory search and found that Curry had taken home 13 watches — including Rolexes, Omegas and Tag Heuers — and a pair of diamond earrings, according to the affidavit.
For the next month, Thomas searched local jewelry stores posing as a customer and looked for the missing watches. He found three of the watches at Wilson Jewelry Exchange at 5010 Burnet Road. Police interviewed the store’s owner and learned that a friend of Curry’s, Jerry Johnson, sold the watches.
Johnson told police that Curry gave him the watches to repay a debt. Johnson said he did not know the watches were stolen.
Curry was charged with theft. Travis County jail records show he was not in custody on Monday afternoon. His bail was set at $15,000.
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