Couple steals $8000 diamond by switching it with a fake — Gloversville, NY
Gloversville Police are looking for a couple they say pulled the old switcheroo on a jewelry store salesperson.
It involves a real diamond, a fake one, and could cost the store thousands of dollars.
It went down earlier this week - when investigators say a couple walked into the store, asked to look at loose diamonds, and allegedly got the salesperson to leave the room long enough for them to switch one of the gems out for a fake - and head out the door.
Surveillance video shows the couple that Gloversville Police say is responsible for swiping an expensive diamond from Castiglione Jewelers on Main Street in town.
Gloversville Police Detective Joseph Kadle says they wandered the store for a while before setting down at the diamond counter, working with the owner’s son.
“The owner came out and showed loose stones in a pouch. They decided to go into lab to show under a microscope,” said Detective Kadle.
In the lab, they honed in on a one carat stone worth $8,000.
Soon after, the woman left the store to get something to eat.
The man said he needed to go to the bank but didn’t want the woman to know, and wanted to know exactly how much money he would need for the stone.
Detective Kadle said, “Andrew left room to get calculator a minute or two dismissed himself and never came back.”
In that time, though, the man had switched out the diamond for a cubic zirconia - but the switch wasn’t discovered until a couple of days later when someone went to show the stone to someone else.
Detective Kadle says the store clerks say they’d been keeping a close eye on the couple, even though to the best of anyone’s knowledge, this is the first time Castigliones has been robbed.
The cops hope someone else might have seen something that could help track this couple down.
“They do appear they are not locals so any information on who might be or any other businesses with similar incident would contact us,” said Detective Kadle. “That would be greatly appreciated.”
Gloversville Police say they do not believe the couple is local, and they have not heard about any similar thefts yet - and want to hear if there have been.
http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Gloversville-Police-seek-diamond-thieves/tau1oNa5jkq9HZtcwRBRJQ.cspx
