ORLANDO, Florida: A suspected thief gulped down two pairs of diamond earrings during his arrest on the side of a Florida Panhandle highway last week, detectives say, leaving them with the unenviable task of waiting to “collect” the Tiffany & Co jewellery worth nearly US$770,000.
In the squad car, a state trooper heard the suspect say, “I should have thrown them out the window” and at the Washington County jail he asked staff, “Am I going to be charged with what is in my stomach?” according to the arrest report.
The 32-year-old man from Texas is accused of two felonies for forcibly stealing the earrings from an upscale Orlando shopping centre last week.
An X-ray of his torso shows what the Orlando Police Department believed to be the diamond earrings – a white mass 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 are passed,” the department’s arrest report said.
Orlando police spokeswoman Kaylee Bishop said Wednesday (Mar 5) she was checking with the lead detective on whether the earrings had been recovered yet.
The earrings’ status also wasn’t known to a deputy who answered the phone but wouldn’t give his name in the rural Panhandle county where the suspect was arrested near Chipley, Florida.
Handwriting on an order of commitment document filed Monday said “outside medical”, suggesting he was at a medical facility.
During the theft, the man allegedly told Tiffany sales associates he was interested in purchasing diamond earrings and a diamond ring on behalf of an Orlando Magic basketball player.
Sales associates escorted the man to a VIP room where he could view the jewellery. A short time later, he jumped out of his chair, grabbed the jewellery and tried to force his way out of the door.
One of the sales associates was injured trying to block him but managed to knock the diamond ring, valued at US$587,000, out of his hands.
Detectives obtained the license plate of the suspect’s car through shopping mall security footage and believed he was driving back to Texas.
State troopers tracked the car from tag readers on the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 10 until he was pulled over for driving without rear lights in Washington County, almost 550km away, the Orlando police report said.
The suspect was charged with first-degree felony grand theft and robbery with a mask, a third-degree felony. Court records showed no attorney for him, and he was listed as being in police custody in Orange County Florida, which is home to Orlando, as of Wednesday morning.
