A $250k luxury wig theft puts small shop’s future in doubt

Police say four burglars broke into a business in North Las Vegas early Sunday and made off with an estimated $250,000 in luxury wigs and hair products.

The theft at the Iwearthebest.com retail outlet at 3985 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., near Alexander Road, has threatened the future of the small business.

“If the merchandise is returned then yes, I think there is a good hope that the business will survive,” said Iwearthebest.com lead investor Dov Erlichman. “If the merchandise is not returned, the future of the business is in peril. We are not in a position to reopen the store.”

North Las Vegas police spokesman Alexander Cuevas said police were alerted to the burglary at about 1:50 a.m. Sunday. The burglars were gone by the time officers arrived. The burglars broke open a window above the front door, then crawled through and ransacked the store.

Erlichman said the wigs and hair products sold from the business are very valuable and unique.

“We cater primarily to people who wear wigs every day,” he said. “There is a tremendous market of women who wear wigs every single day and are looking for a high-quality wig that is not going to shed and will last for a year or two.”

The business is owned by Nicole Pinckney. Pinckney, Erlichman said, was too distraught to talk about the crime Monday. The business managed to navigate its way through a loss of revenue from the pandemic, he said, but the theft devastated Pinckney and threatened the jobs of a handful of part-time employees.

“The high-priced items, which were primarily human hair, were all taken,” Erlichman said. “The wigs require a lot of manual labor. All that labor is gone. Wigs and hair for people with Lupus, cancer. That was stolen also. Our philanthropy is gone, and what we were giving back to the community is gone.”

Video surveillance captured images of the burglars. It is believed they fled the scene in a black car with no license plate, possibly a Volkswagen. Erlichman said audio surveillance from inside the store captured the sounds of the burglars talking and saying one another’s name.

“Eventually we believe that these people will be caught,” he said.

Erlichman said he has a message for those who committed the crime.

“Our primary concern is to get the merchandise back,” he said. “We’ve offered a 20 percent reward for merchandise that is returned.”

Anyone with information the crime is asked to call North Las Vegas police at 702-633-9111 or 702-633-1773. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at g[puit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.