Cops: He Posed as NBA Player Rep, Swallowed $770K in Bling

A Texas man has been arrested after police say he stole nearly $770,000 worth of Tiffany jewelry in Florida in the most desperately creative way. According to an Orlando Police Department arrest warrant, 32-year-old Jaythan Gilder strolled into a Tiffany & Co. store in Orlando's Mall at Millennia on the afternoon of Feb. 26 and informed staff he was a rep for an Orlando Magic basketball player, per NBC News. The warrant notes that, after announcing his supposed link to the NBA, Gilder was then taken to a VIP room, where he was shown two pairs of diamond earrings (worth $160,000 and $609,000) and a 5.61-carat diamond ring worth $587,000.

That's when things got wild, per authorities, who say Gilder suddenly swiped the three jewelry pieces, struggling with staffers before finally fleeing, dropping the ring in the process. Surveillance cameras helped police ID the car they say Gilder hopped into, and they tracked him down later that evening driving on Interstate 10 in Tallahassee—300 miles or so away from Orlando—"taking the fastest route" back to the Lone Star State, per the affidavit. USA Today notes that Gilder is a resident of Houston.

Police say they didn't find the jewelry in Gilder's vehicle—because "as he was being taken into custody, Gilder swallowed several items," the affidavit notes. A scan taken of Gilder at the Washington County Jail found "foreign objects in his stomach," which authorities suspect is the stolen bling. They say the waiting game now starts for when those objects will pass through and out of Gilder's system.

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Gilder, who was arrested in 2022 for a theft from a Tiffany store in Texas, also has 48 "failure to appear" warrants in Colorado. WESH reports that, per police, Gilder asked staff at the jail, "Am l going to be charged with what's in my stomach?" He was indeed charged with what is (or was) allegedly in his stomach, booked on suspicion of grand theft and robbery with a mask. Per NBC, an arresting officer also says they overheard Gilder say after being detained, "I should have thrown them out the window." (More weird crimes stories.)