Retired Delco FBI agent calls Louvre heist 'sloppily done'

Police in France are working to identify and apprehend four suspects accused of stealing nine crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris in a brazen heist that lasted less than seven minutes on Sunday morning.

Investigators say the suspects, dressed as construction workers, used a ladder to break into a second-floor window of the museum on Sunday. They escaped on motorbikes, leaving behind multiple items that police believe may contain forensic evidence.

READ MORE | Manhunt underway for 4 suspects after heist of 'priceless' jewelry at Louvre in Paris

"It was an interesting crime but it was so sloppily done that I think it's going to be a problem for them to escape justice," said Robert Wittman, a retired FBI agent based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He's been closely following the investigation.

Wittman founded the FBI's art crimes team and now runs a private art-security firm with his wife and sons. Over the course of his career, he says he's recovered more than $300 million in stolen art and cultural property, including cases in Philadelphia.

"It's not just property - it's cultural history," Wittman said.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the theft "an attack on French heritage."

Wittman emphasized the broader impact of museum thefts, saying, "When you steal something from a museum, you're not just stealing an item, you're stealing our history. That's representative of a civilization, that's representative of all of our cultures. It's everybody's and you and I should feel affronted by the fact that people have taken that away from us."

Wittman noted that specialized investigative teams and informants are likely already working the case, as the suspects may attempt to sell the stolen items.

"Throughout my career I worked undercover," Wittman said. "I'd be the guy they may be selling it to, and then we would bust them and get the material back. And you know, we did that in a half-dozen countries, so that's what usually happens. So that's hopefully what's going to happen this time. Heaven forbid they destroy it."

Wittman estimates the value of the stolen jewels at tens of millions of dollars, but said the monetary value is not what's important.

"From a heritage standpoint, a cultural standpoint - priceless," he said.

Wittman added that the Louvre theft is not the largest art heist he's seen. That distinction belongs to the 1990 theft of more than a dozen pieces from the Gardner Museum in Boston, valued at $500 million.

An Israeli security firm, the CGI Group, has also been brought in by the museum to assist with the investigation.