Orlando Police Department detectives recovered the earrings stolen from the Tiffany & Co. store in the Mall of Millenia on Feb. 26 and then swallowed by the man charged in the case. Three of the earrings were recovered on March 10 and the fourth on March 12. (Image courtesy of the Orlando Police Department)
Orlando, Fla.—Detectives have recovered two pairs of Tiffany & Co. earrings that were stolen from a store in Florida and then swallowed by a Texas man.
Jaythan Lawrence Gilder, 32, of Houston, Texas, is accused of stealing nearly $800,000 worth of jewelry from the Tiffany & Co. store at the Mall of Millenia in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 26, and then swallowing them during a traffic stop.
Orlando Police Department detectives recovered three of the four Tiffany & Co. earrings, as well as two other unidentified earrings about two weeks later, on March 10.
The final earring was recovered on March 12, said officials.
Detectives Aaron Goss and Tiffany Perez from the department’s Violent Crimes unit recapped the investigation in a video shared to the department’s Facebook page.
“After the diamonds were expelled from his system, we were able to bring the diamonds to Tiffany’s where they were cleaned and where its master jeweler looked at the inscription or serial numbers on the diamonds and confirmed they were the very diamonds that were stolen on the 26th,” Goss said.
Tiffany & Co. did not respond to questions about what it plans to do with the recovered diamonds.
Goss commended his fellow officers who spent time waiting at the hospital where Gilder was admitted for the diamonds to pass through his system.
Detectives had to stand by waiting at the hospital for the earrings to be expelled, said Orlando Police Detective Aaron Goss. They were then cleaned and identified by a master jeweler at Tiffany & Co.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed in the case, an employee of the Tiffany & Co. store told police that Gilder posed as a representative for an Orlando Magic player who was looking to purchase diamond earrings and a diamond ring.
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Due to the high value of the items, two employees led Gilder into a private viewing room, showing him a pair of 4.86-carat diamond solitaire earrings ($160,000), a pair of 8.19-carat diamond solitaire earrings ($609,500), and a 5.16-carat diamond solitaire ring ($587,000).
During the consultation in the viewing room, an employee told police Gilder jumped out of his seat and grabbed the jewels, injuring one employee as he fled with the two pairs of earrings, the affidavit states.
Detectives identified the getaway vehicle, which they say was making its way to Texas.
Gilder was stopped by Florida Highway Patrol hours later due to a traffic violation, as he was said to be driving without functioning taillights.
As Gilder was being taken into custody, he swallowed several items, suspected to be the stolen jewelry, the affidavit states, and a live scan at the Washington County Jail confirmed there were foreign objects in his stomach.
At the time of his arrest, Gilder was held on resisting charges separate from this incident and 48 separate “failure to appear” warrants from the state of Colorado.
He is being charged with grand theft in the first degree and robbery with a mask.
After searching his criminal history, police found he had been charged with a “near identical” robbery/theft of a Tiffany & Co. store in Woodlands Township, Texas, in 2022, the affidavit notes.
