Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
Most pro athletes have plenty of money at their disposal that they can use to make their lives easier, and it’s not rare for them to pay someone to take care of an errand for them. That’s probably why workers at a Tiffany and Co. in Orlando didn’t think twice about helping someone claiming to be shopping for a player on the Magic, but things took a turn when he fled with some pricy jewelry that eventually ended up in his stomach.
Before we dive into things, I should admit the bulk of my knowledge concerning the way NBA players shop for jewelry comes from Uncut Gems. With that said, I have been able to supplement it with some real-world anecdotes that have helped me fill in the gaps.
Guys in the NBA tend to have plenty of things on their plate during the season, so it’s only natural they occasionally turn to other people to help them tackle a task they don’t have the time to take care of themselves.
According to CBS News, that was the scenario employees at a Tiffany and Co. in Orlando thought they encountered on February 26th when a man who said his name was Shawn told them he was hoping to pick up some bling on behalf of an unidentified player on the Magic after rolling into the jewelry store.
He eventually picked out a diamond ring worth $587,000 as well as two pairs of diamond earrings with a price tag of $160,000 and $609,500 before being escorted to the store’s VIP room to finalize the sale.
However, things took a turn when he grabbed the jewelry and fled while assaulting an employee who tried to stop him from leaving. He dropped the ring but had both pairs of earrings in his possession when he sprinted into the parking lot and drove away in a Mitsubishi Outlander, which was the subject of an alert that quickly went out to Florida Highway Patrol.
That vehicle was pulled over 300 miles away from the scene of the crime in Tallahassee later that day, and police discovered price tags and forms linked to the earing inside.
While they were initially unable to find the actual earrings, they were able to connect the dots when the man—identified as 32-year-old Houston, Texas resident Jaythan Gilder—”swallowed several items” while he was being detained before he asked “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?” upon arriving to jail.
Police subsequently ordered an X-ray that detected foreign objects in his digestive tract, and while they were presumably the four earrings valued at a combined $769,500, they were not, um, “recovered” by the time he left Washington County Jail for Orange Country Jail (where he was being detained as of the most recent update).
Orlando Police Department
Gilder was charged with grand theft in the first degree and robbery with a mask for using items to attempt to conceal his identity during the heist he allegedly perpetrated. He also had 48 warrants out for his arrest in Colorado and was previously charged with pulling a similar robbery at a Tiffany and Co. in Texas in 2022.