Man Swallows $20K Diamond, Police Wait for Stone to Pass
Police in Ontario are closely monitoring a prisoner after he allegedly swallowed a diamond worth $20,000.
The 52-year-old man, who has not been identified, allegedly gulped down the 1.7 karat diamond after a saleswoman became suspicious after he tried giving her back a fake diamond and keeping the real one for himself.
Dan Thomas, who has been in the jewelry business for 25 years, said he has never seen anything like that happen before and he praised his clerk for her quick thinking.
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"She noticed that he had fumbled with the stone and she thought right away that he had switched the stone, so when it was handed back to her, she said, 'I don't think this is the stone I gave you.' And he said, 'No, no, this is what you gave me, I don't have anything on me,'" Thomas said.
The clerk had recognized the man from a wanted poster circulating among jewelers. When she asked another employee to check the stone in question it was found to be fake and that is when the man allegedly swallowed the gem.
The police were called and the man was taken into custody by police in Windsor.
Sgt. Brett Corey stated that the man was being held in a special cell without a toilet.
"We are monitoring his bowel movements, if you will. Our forensic identification people are the lucky ones who have to go through the waste to obtain the diamond once it passes," Corey said.
The next step after the man releases the stone is what to do with it. Thomas thinks the story behind the diamond is enough to get someone to buy it.
"But you never know, people might want it, saying, 'There's a whole story behind this diamond and I want it,'" Thomas said.
The man was charged with theft over $5,000.
