Reward offered in $100,000 heist from Georgia gold mine

DAHLONEGA, Ga. (AP) — A reward is being offered in hopes of finding a man who stormed into a north Georgia gold mine and made off with about $100,000 worth of gold, cellphones, money and jewelry from the mine’s retail shop.

The man — dressed in black and armed with a gun — forced employees to turn over the loot on Feb. 3 at the Crisson Gold Mine in Dahlonega, WSB-TV reported.

It was largest robbery of its kind in Lumpkin County, Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said. People donated money for the $10,000 reward, he said.

The gold mine is a tourist attraction that highlights the region’s rich gold mining history. Dahlonega was at the center of America’s first major gold rush in 1829, which happened about two decades before the California gold rush.