Earrings worth $769,500 recovered by Florida police after alleged thief swallows them

Orlando police have recovered two sets of earrings worth $769,500. The earrings were swallowed by an alleged thief over two weeks ago.

Jaythan Gilder, 32, swallowed the Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings on February 26. This was around the time he was taken into custody.

Detectives monitored Mr. Gilder at an Orlando hospital for over a dozen days. They waited until the earrings were expelled from his system.

Mr. Gilder faces charges of robbery with a mask and grand theft in the first degree. Tiffany's has since cleaned the recovered earrings.

The two pairs of earrings are valued at $769,500 combined. Police allege Mr. Gilder posed as an assistant to an NBA player.

He was shown high-end jewelry in a VIP room at Tiffany's in Orlando. Mr. Gilder allegedly distracted employees and ran off with two pairs of earrings.

As he fled, he dropped a diamond ring worth $587,000. Officers caught up with him later that day and saw him swallowing objects believed to be the stolen earrings.

While being transported to jail, Mr. Gilder reportedly said, "I should have thrown them out the window." At jail, he asked staff if he would be charged for what was in his stomach.

Police released an x-ray showing foreign objects inside his abdomen. They took Mr. Gilder to a hospital and monitored him for about two weeks until they recovered the earrings.

Detective Aaron Goss stated that this case "quickly turned into a marathon, not a sprint." On March 12, police recovered the fourth earring from Tiffany & Co.

When returned to Tiffany's, their master jeweler confirmed that serial numbers matched the stolen pieces. Mr. Gilder is currently in custody at Orange County Jail.

His criminal history includes a robbery at a Tiffany & Co. store in Texas in 2022. There are also 48 separate warrants out for his arrest in Colorado.