Police recover $769,000 in stolen jewelry nearly two weeks after man swallowed it

A man pretending to represent a professional basketball player allegedly swallowed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen Tiffany jewelry, according to court documents. Police said that it took 12 days to recover the pieces. 

Jaythan Gilder, 32, of Houston, Texas, allegedly robbed a Tiffany & Co. jewelry store in a mall in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 26, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by CBS News. Gilder allegedly entered the store wearing a red hat, a red Polo-brand shirt, and very ripped blue jeans, police said. He allegedly told store staff that his name was Shawn and he was a negotiating a sale on behalf of a player on the Orlando Magic basketball team. 

Gilder was brought into the store’s VIP room because of the value of the jewelry involved in the transaction, store staff told police. The merchandise included two pairs of diamond earrings and a diamond ring. The pairs of earrings are valued at $160,000 and $609,500 each, and the ring is valued at $587,000, store staff told police. 

During the consultation in the VIP room, Gilder allegedly jumped out of his seat and grabbed the merchandise. He then allegedly attempted to leave the VIP room by “violently pushing and pulling” at the sliding doors. Store associate Amit Nayee tried to stop Gilder, according to court documents, but Gilder “violently pushes and pulls his arms.” Police said they saw visible injuries on Nayee’s arms. 

During the scuffle, the diamond ring was dropped. Gilder was able to keep possession of the earrings and get the doors open enough to escape, police said. He allegedly ran through the store and dodged other staff members. One store employee told police that she feared Gilder had a gun. He left through the store’s front doors and left the mall, police said. 

A man matching Gilder’s description was seen on mall parking lot security cameras getting into a blue 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander. They were able to follow the car through public safety cameras and toll records. Florida Highway Patrol was notified on the vehicle’s make, model and license plate number. 

Shortly before 8 p.m. local time on Feb. 26, the highway patrol pulled over a car matching that description for a traffic violation. The driver of the car allegedly resisted the investigation and was arrested on resisting charges separate from the incident. Highway patrol officials identified the driver as Gilder. Earring forms and price tags from Tiffany & Co. were found on the floor of the vehicle. 

As he was being taken into custody, Gilder allegedly swallowed several items. The highway patrol officers transporting him to jail heard him allegedly say “I should have thrown them out the window.”

Gilder was then taken to Washington County Jail, where a live scan showed several foreign objects in his stomach. Police suspect the items are the Tiffany earrings he left the store with. The two pairs have a combined value of $769,500. 

Nayee identified Gilder in a lineup at the jail. 

At the jail, Gilder allegedly asked staff “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?” 

The Orlando Police Department said on social media that Gilder was monitored by detectives at an area hospital for “more than a dozen days” before the earrings were expelled from his system.

“This case quickly turned into a marathon, not a sprint,” Goss said. 

Det. Aaron Goss said in a social media video that the earrings were brought back to Tiffany’s, where the store’s master jeweler confirmed that serial numbers on the jewelry matched the stolen pieces. The earrings were cleaned by Tiffany’s, Goss said.   

Gilder was charged with grand theft in the first degree, and robbery with a mask, according to court documents. Gilder was not masked at the time of the robbery, but was wearing a gauze nose covering and arm bandage, as well as a hat, and police said this “indicates by state statute” that he committed robbery with a mask, since the items were used to conceal his identity. Both are felonies. 

Gilder remains in custody at the Orange County Jail, according to online records. 

Police said that a search of Gilder’s criminal history found he was charged in a near-identical robbery from a Tiffany & Co. store in Texas in 2022. He is also being held on 48 separate “failure to appear” warrants out of the state of Colorado.