Man steals over $760K from Tiffany & Co. and hides the evidence. Then police realize where it is and have to wait two weeks to get it back
In his attempt to hide any evidence of the theft, the suspect did something unexpected instead.
The internet has witnessed some surprising heists over the past year, including a Fast and Furious-style theft of 300 pounds of frozen chicken. One man, on the other hand, was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from Tiffany & Co. before he swallowed the prized jewels. On Friday, a year after the crime, he was found guilty of robbery and grand theft.
On Feb. 26, 2025, 32-year-old Jaythan Lawrence Gilder posed as a representative of a basketball player signed with the Orlando Magic to gain access to valuable Tiffany & Co. jewelry in its Mall at Millenia location in Orlando, Florida, according to the Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit on Thursday. Gilder was nearly successful in his endeavor, having stolen 4.86-carat diamond earrings valued at $160,000 and another 8.19-carat set worth $609,500, police said.
Gilder made off with stolen goods amounting to $769,500, fleeing the scene after “using force against a store employee.” He also attempted to steal a $587,000 ring, but it was later recovered, WFLA reported.
Man swallows Tiffany & Co. earrings
Florida Highway Patrol officers pursued Gilder before stopping him along Interstate 10 in Washington County. Instead of surrendering the earrings and cooperating with his arrest, the jewelry thief did something unexpected—he reportedly swallowed the earrings in an attempt to conceal the evidence, according to the arrest report.
Several officers immediately attempted to retrieve the earrings from Gilder, forcing him to open his mouth as they wrestled him on the hood of a police cruiser, based on the dashcam footage from the incident. The officers were unsuccessful in their retrieval and were unable to charge Gilder with theft at the time. However, Gilder was arrested on a resisting arrest charge, which was compounded by his 48 outstanding warrants out of Colorado.
While Gilder was in jail, however, he “spontaneously” questioned officers about whether they were going to charge him for “what’s in my stomach,” per the arrest report. One of the officers who arrested Gilder also claimed to have heard him say, “I should have thrown them out the window.”
Police had to wait two weeks for the earrings to be pooped out
Gilder was later made to undergo a body scan, during which investigators found the missing earrings in his stomach. “These foreign objects are suspected to be the Tiffany & Co. earrings taken in the robbery but will need to be collected by WCSO after they are passed through Gilder’s system prior to confirming,” the arrest report states.
Gilder was eventually transferred to a hospital, with authorities waiting for two weeks before he was able to excrete the jewelry from his system. According to the NY Post, the earrings were then handed off to “Tiffany’s Master Jeweler,” who restored the earrings before returning them to Tiffany & Co.’s security manager.
In addition to the financial loss from the theft, State Attorney Monique Worrell noted that the incident also highlighted the safety risks faced by employees when confronted with violence on the job. “This verdict sends a clear message that violence and theft will not be tolerated in our community,” Worrell said. “I commend the prosecutors who presented this case, along with the Orlando Police Department and all law enforcement partners whose work helped bring this defendant to justice.”
Gilder’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7.
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