Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Florida jewellery thief swallows $1 million worth of diamond earrings
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An X-ray released by the Orlando police shows what investigators say is a piece of diamond shining brightly in a suspected thief’s gut.
PHOTO: ORLANDO POLICE DEPARTMENT
Talk about having “breakfast at Tiffany’s”.
A suspected thief swallowed US$770,000 (S$1 million) worth of diamond earrings that the US police said he swiped from a Tiffany store in Florida.
The theft happened on Feb 26 at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, reported US news outlet NBC News.
According to a court affidavit, Jaythan Gilder, 32, walked into the Tiffany store claiming he represented a basketball player from NBA team Orlando Magic.
He was ushered to a VIP room and shown a pair of 4.86-carat diamond earrings worth US$160,000, a pair of 8.19-carat diamond earrings worth US$609,000, and a 5.61-carat diamond ring worth US$587,000.
A short time later, Gilder jumped out of his chair, grabbed the earrings and the ring, and tried to force his way out of the door.
The store’s employees tried to block his path, and managed to knock the diamond ring out of his hands.
Still, Gilder was able to flee with the earrings.
But security cameras captured the licence plate of his car – a rental.
State troopers spotted the vehicle “taking the fastest route to Texas”, and apprehended the driver in Washington County some 500km north-west of Orlando.
As he was being arrested, Gilder “swallowed several items”, the court affidavit said.
An X-ray of his torso showed what the police believed to be the diamond earrings shining brightly against the grey backdrop of his digestive tract.
“These foreign objects are suspected to be the Tiffany & Co earrings taken in the robbery but will need to be collected… after they pass through Gilder’s system,” the affidavit said.
As he sat at the back of a police car, Gilder was overheard saying: “I should have thrown them out the window.”
Later, while appearing at the Washington County jail, he asked an officer: “Am I going to be charged (over) what is in my stomach?”
Gilder was booked on suspicion of grand theft and for robbery with a mask, and was still in custody in Orange County on March 5.
The police declined to say whether the stolen earrings had been recovered.
