$20,000 In Diamonds Stolen

A diamond dealer said she was robbed of stones worth nearly $20,000 this week when a purse snatcher grabbed her handbag near Spokane’s Liberty Park post office.

The woman, who authorities wouldn’t identify, told police she was walking to the post office near Sprague and Helena to mail a package containing diamonds about 2 p.m. Monday.

She said she stopped to answer a cellular phone call. While she was talking, a man on a bike rode up, struck her on the left shoulder and grabbed her bag, which contained the package, police said.

He continued riding east on the sidewalk and escaped.

The victim told police the three stones were valued at $14,000, $4,000 and $1,200.

Police described the robber as a white male in his 20s, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, with a thin build and shoulder-length sandy brown hair.

, DataTimes