Jaythan Gilder allegedly asked jailers, “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?”
Police in Orlando, Florida, have arrested a man who allegedly attempted to steal $770,000 worth of diamonds by swallowing them.
Jaythan Gilder, 32, was arrested Feb. 28 in connection with a robbery two days earlier at a Tiffany & Co. store at a local mall.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun, Gilder told store employees he was there to negotiate a purchase for an unnamed Orlando Magic player.
Gilder was then taken to a private room and shown a diamond ring worth $587,000 and two sets of diamond earrings worth $609,500 and $160,000 apiece, the affidavit states.
But during a discussion about using a wire transfer to purchase the jewels, Gilder allegedly “jumped out of his seat,” grabbed the jewelry and ran to the door.
As he attempted to “leave the VIP room by violently pushing and pulling the doors open,” according to the affidavit, Gilder got into a scuffle with an employee, who reportedly knocked a diamond ring from his hand.
Gilder still had the earrings and was able to elude other store employees and get out of the store and into a getaway car in the parking lot, the affidavit says.
Detectives were able to identify the vehicle Gilder was in and stop him on Interstate 10 in Washington County after officers noticed the car didn’t have its rear lights on.
What allegedly happened next may seem a little hard to swallow.
“When Gilder was taken into custody, he resisted arrest and was seen swallowing several objects believed to be the stolen earrings,” an Orlando Police Department spokesperson told People.
The affidavit says that a body scan of Gilder at the jail showed the presence of “foreign objects” in his body, though local NBC affiliate WFLA said the objects will have to be analyzed after they pass through Gilder’s system to confirm if they are diamonds.
This X-ray photo shows the insides of Jaythan Gilder, who is accused of swallowing $770,000 worth of diamonds stolen from a Tiffany & Co. store in Orlando, Florida.
According to the affidavit, Gilder asked his jailers, “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?”
He also allegedly said, “I should have thrown them out the window” when he was in the back of a patrol car after his arrest.
Gilder was charged with one count of grand theft in the first degree and robbery with a mask.
USA Today reported that Gilder has been accused of similar robberies in the past. In 2022, he was arrested for theft at another Tiffany & Co. store in Texas and had 48 “failure to appear” warrants in Colorado.
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