Man found guilty after swallowing $770,000 in diamonds

A Florida jury found Jaythan Gilder guilty of stealing two pairs of diamond earrings worth $769,500 from a Tiffany & Co. store. The verdict was announced on October 22, 2026, concluding a trial that began after Gilder attempted to hide the stolen jewelry by swallowing it.

The theft occurred on February 26, 2025, at the Tiffany & Co. location inside the Mall at Millenia in Orlando. Gilder posed as a representative negotiating a jewelry purchase for a professional basketball player. He convinced employees to show him high-value pieces in a private room. During the meeting, he took the two pairs of earrings and fled. Prosecutors said he used force against an employee who tried to stop him, injuring the worker.

Gilder escaped in a vehicle. Orlando police identified the car, and state authorities located it in Washington County. Florida Highway Patrol agents detained him there. While being taken into custody, Gilder swallowed several objects. A body scan at the jail revealed foreign objects in his stomach. The state Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit confirmed he had swallowed the jewelry to obscure the evidence.

Detectives monitored Gilder in a hospital for nearly two weeks. They waited for the diamonds to pass naturally, avoiding the need for surgery. On March 10, 2025, agents recovered three of the four stolen earrings along with two other earrings of unknown origin. Two days later, on March 12, they found the fourth Tiffany earring. A master jeweler at Tiffany examined the serial numbers and inscriptions, confirming the pieces matched those stolen in February.

The prosecution charged Gilder with robbery with violence and grand theft. The jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts on October 22, 2026. The case involved a complex recovery process that lasted until mid-March 2025 before the legal proceedings concluded in the fall of 2026.

Gilder’s sentence will be determined in a hearing scheduled for December 7, 2026. The theft involved jewelry valued at $160,000 and $609,500 respectively. The store confirmed the recovery of the items allowed investigators to verify the specific diamonds taken during the February robbery.