Investigations

Fla. Police Wait 12 Days to Recover Stolen Earrings Accused Thief Swallowed

March 25, 2025

Orlando police waited for one of the most expensive bowel movements ever in order to recover two pairs of stolen Tiffany & Co. earrings worth over $760,000 that a suspect swallowed.

By Timothy Malcolm

Source Houston Chronicle

Orlando, FL, police detectives waited 12 days to recover two pairs of Tiffany & Co. earrings worth over $760,000 that a suspect had allegedly stolen and then swallowed when officers had pulled him over late last month.

Police in Florida say a Houston man tried something unusual in the attempt to prove he didn't steal jewelry from Tiffany & Co.: he ate it. Of course, that's not the end of the story.

Jaythan Lawrence Gilder, 32, of Houston, walked into the Tiffany & Co. store at Orlando's Mall at Millenia on Feb. 26 and allegedly posed as an associate of a pro basketball player to inquire about 4.86-carat diamond earrings and 8.19-carat diamond earrings, and a 5.61-carat diamond ring, according to an Orlando Police Department affidavit. Tiffany & Co. employees led Gilder into a private room, and not long afterward, Gilder allegedly ran out of the store with the jewelry. According to the affidavit, Gilder pushed and injured a store employee on the way out, dropping the ring in the process.

Then Gilder fled into a car with the two pairs of earrings and drove west on Interstate 10, the affidavit said. Police stopped Gilder in Tallahassee, driving a Mitsubishi Outlander that was traced to an Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Houston, according to the affidavit. Police say it was during that stop when Gilder swallowed the two pairs of earrings.

A scan of Gilder's body showed the earrings in his stomach. The affidavit stated that Gilder even asked an officer if he was "going to be charged with what's in my stomach?"

The earrings were worth more than $760,000 in total, according to police. After booking Gilder, police took him to a hospital so they could wait for the earrings to materialize.

It took 12 days, according to the New York Times, but on Friday, police say they got their earrings. They were brought back to Tiffany & Co., cleaned and inspected, according to the Times.

Gilder was charged with first-degree grand theft and third-degree robbery with a mask. According to reports, Gilder had been charged with robbery from a Tiffany & Co. store in The Woodlands in 2022.

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