More than $30,000 in precious stones, gems and minerals were stolen early Monday from the Franklin Mineral Museum, and police are asking the public to be on the lookout for someone with a severe laceration.

FRANKLIN -- More than $30,000 in precious stones, gems and minerals were stolen early Monday from the Franklin Mineral Museum, and police are asking the public to be on the lookout for someone with a severe laceration.

The daring theft is believed to have occurred sometime after 4:40 a.m., when the burglars, after climbing a barbed wire fence, forced their way into the museum through a second-story window. According to Franklin Police Detective Sgt. Nevin Mattessich, the thieves used a ladder on the property to reach the window, then rappelled down to the main floor at which time one of them suffered a severe cut.

�

Bloodstains were found throughout the museum, he said.

The burglars ransacked the shelves and displays and several of the museum's display cabinets were shattered, causing substantial damage, he said.

The stolen merchandise is a unique part of the mineral history within Sussex County. Mattessich said the items stolen include emeralds, diamonds, topaz, opals and other precious stones and gems.

The theft was discovered by an employee who was opening the museum for the day about 9:30 a.m., Mattessich said.

The facility has an alarm, which did go off at about 4:40 a.m. A police officer responded and checked the building, but did not notice anything amiss, Mattessich said.

Police do not know if the burglars' entry triggered the alarm, or if they took an action that triggered the alarm and then entered the building after the responding officer left, Mattessich said.

The museum building looks low from the front, but in the back where the window was broken, the ceiling rises to a lofty height, Mattessich said.

"We are asking any doctor, medical facility or hospital who treated someone with a significant cut to contact us," Mattessich said.

Police are also asking people to be on the lookout for anyone who might have an unusual amount of precious stones or gems.

Anyone who has any information regarding the break-in or anyone who has noticed someone with an unusual laceration is asked to contact Detective Daniel Flora at 862-273-5170 or Detective Sgt. Nevin Mattessich at 862-268-1401. Callers can remain anonymous.

The theft occurred just after a weekend event in a long-vacant lot off High Street where members of the Franklin Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society got a chance to prospect a previously untouched area of the Franklin zinc ore body. The event was filmed by a documentary crew.

In July 2011, more than $400,000 worth of gold was stolen from the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg. The gold was never recovered.

The Franklin Mineral Museum opened in the 1960s as a museum dedicated to local minerals. It recreates and tells the story of the Franklin zinc mine, which closed in the late 1950s. The museum contains a replica of the Franklin mine for exploration, exhibits of local minerals, fossils and American Indian artifacts. Its worldwide mineral exhibit numbers 5,000 items in all, according to the museum website.

�Editor's note: This story has been corrected from the original to clarify statements by Detective Sgt. Nevin Mattessich.

�

�