A robber didn’t just make off with some new jewels—he made a meal of them.
A Florida man is in the news after allegedly stealing from a Tiffany & Co. outpost in Orlando and swallowing the evidence: two pairs of high-end earrings worth nearly $770,000, according to local news outlet WFLA. Jaythan Lawrence Gilder, 32, reportedly pulled off the robbery last week at the luxury jewelry store in the Mall at Millenia on February 26. Posing as a representative for an Orlando Magic basketball player, he gained access to the store’s most valuable pieces, including a 4.86-carat set of earrings valued at $160,000 and a larger 8.10-carat set worth $609,500.
Surveillance footage captured Gilder sitting at a table inside the store, where two pairs of earrings and a necklace were displayed in front of him. Moments later, he grabbed the earrings and fled, but the Florida Highway Patrol caught up with him on Interstate 10. He was arrested for resisting police, but the stolen jewelry was nowhere to be found, and they couldn’t charge him with theft just yet.
It wasn’t until Gilder was booked into jail that the police made a revelation, and things took an interesting turn. According to the arrest report, Gilder casually asked staff if he was going to be charged for what was “in my stomach.” A body scan confirmed the presence of foreign objects in his abdomen, believed to be the stolen earrings.
As authorities waited for the earrings to move through Gilder’s digestive system, a trooper overheard him say, “I should have thrown them out the window.” Sure enough, the theft was confirmed after Gilder passed the jewelry, which was later identified as the stolen Tiffany pieces.
Gilder, who also has a previous robbery at a Tiffany & Co. Store in Texas from 2022 on his record, now faces a range of charges in Florida, including grand theft and robbery with a mask. On top of that, he has 48 outstanding warrants in Colorado.
This most recent incident is the latest big-ticket heist to make the news. Last week, it was reported that three men were on trial for stealing and later selling a $6 million (£4.8 million) 18-carat-gold toilet created by artist Maurizio Cattelan from a U.K. county house. Prior to that, back in October, thieves nabbed $390,000 worth of prize-winning British cheddar from a wholesaler in England—but least they didn’t eat their stolen loot.
Authors
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Abby Montanez