English police are on the hunt for Superman, luxury watch thief

The police of Nottinghamshire are on the hunt for Superman Rostas, a 25-year-old Romanian man suspected of having stolen a watch valued at  £21,130 ($33,000 U.S.) According to local authorities, Rostas casually walked into the Andrew Michaels Jewellers in the Newark market town and feigned interest in a number of different timepieces. The thief managed to distract store clerks well enough to give him a chance to pocket a luxury Chopard watch before fleeing the store and disappearing into the city’s streets.

“We are appealing for anyone who has seen him or has any information on his whereabouts to get in touch,” Police Constable Marc Taylor said in a public statement.

There are two ways to look at the police’s prospects in tracking Rostas down and retrieving the stolen watch.

On the one hand, the theft took place way back on June 19, meaning that Superman’s had plenty of time (and flight and super speed, one imagines) to get away. On the other hand, the Andrew Michaels closed circuit television captured a fairly high resolution image of Rostas while he was in the store.

The police claim that Rostas had close personal connections to nearby Birmingham and other places in the West Midlands.

Usually, when these things happen, one would think to call Batman, but he seems to have fallen on harder times too as of late. Perhaps the Crime Syndicate of America is taking shape.