Tiffany & Co., worth nearly $770,000, was the burglar who cut two pairs of diamond earrings during his arrest on the Florida Panhandle Highway side last week. He says he leaves behind an enviable job of waiting to “collect” his jewelry.
X-rays on the suspect’s torso showed what Orlando Police Department believed was diamond earrings. A bright, shining white mass on a grey background of his digestive tract.
“These foreign objects are suspected to be Tiffany & Co’s earrings filmed in the robbery, but they must be collected. A handwritten letter of commitment document filed Monday said it was “outside medical care,” suggesting he was in a medical facility.
The 32-year-old Texas native is accused of forcing his earrings from a luxury Orlando shopping center last Wednesday.
Orlando Police spokeswoman Kayley Bishop said Wednesday she was checking a leading detective to see if the earrings were still being retrieved. The status of the earrings was unknown to the aides who answered the call, but he did not name him in the countryside Panhandle county, where the suspect was arrested near Chipley.
During the theft, the man allegedly told Tiffany Sales Associates he was interested in purchasing diamond earrings and diamond rings on behalf of the magical basketball player from Orlando. Sales Associates escorted the man in a VIP room where you can see the gems. After a while he jumped out of his chair, grabbed a jewel and tried to get out the door.
One of the sales associates was injured trying to block him, but was able to knock on a diamond ring worth $587,000 from his hand.
The detective gets the suspect’s car license plate through security footage from the shopping mall and believes he is back in Texas. According to an Orlando Police report, state troopers tracked the car from the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 10 tag leaders, before being stopped to drive in the rear county in Washington County.
When he was in custody, he swallowed some items that the trooper believed were earrings.
The suspect was charged with first-degree felony grand larceny and robbery and third-degree felony. Court records did not show him an attorney and he was listed as being in police custody Wednesday morning in Orange County, Florida.
By Associated Press, Mike Schneider
