Pressure Creates Diamonds (Just Not Yet)

MARCH 12--Two weeks after a convicted thief allegedly swallowed valuable diamonds stolen from Tiffany & Co, the hospitalized suspect apparently has not yet “passed” the $770,000 worth of gems lodged in his stomach, The Smoking Gun has learned.

Following his arrest last month, Jaythan Gilder, 32, was admitted to an Orlando, Florida hospital to await the expulsion of the jewelry. “We are unable to state which medical facility due to security reasons,” a spokesperson for the Orange County Corrections Department said. “However, there are two officers with him at all times.”

In response to repeated TSG inquiries about Gilder--regarding his health and whereabouts--the Orlando Police Department’s public information office said it had “no further information to share at this time.”

Gilder is pictured at right in his hospital bed.

Court filings offer only vague references to Gilder’s status. Records contain handwritten notations like “hospital” and “outside medical.” On the defendant signature line of a Circuit Court document, the words “unable to sign” are printed. A February 28 arrest warrant was served on Gilder at 601 East Rollins Street, the address of the AdventHealth Orlando hospital.

Gilder was arrested on February 26, about six hours after allegedly bolting from the Tiffany store in Orlando with two sets of solitaire earrings valued at a combined $769,500. Gilder, cops say, posed as a representative for an NBA player and was ushered into a private room to examine several costly items.

As detailed in various court filings, Gilder was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol officers as he drove on Interstate 10 in Chipley, a city about 330 miles from Orlando. Troopers--who had received a “be on the lookout” alert from Orlando cops--reported having to yank Gilder from his rented Mitsubishi Outlander.

Police believe that Gilder was en route to Houston, Texas, where he lives with his 73-year-old mother.

Gilder, investigators say, “was talking with a closed mouth and was moving an object around...using his tongue.” He reportedly ignored directions to open his mouth and “started to chew” and attempted “to swallow what was in his mouth.” Fearing that he may have ingested narcotics, troopers drove Gilder to a local hospital to be medically cleared before being brought to the Washington County jail. 

“At the hospital Gilder refused treatment and evaluation while stating many times that he did not want his stomach to be X-Rayed,” according to an arrest report.

It was during the subsequent jail intake process that Gilder was subjected to a scan that revealed “foreign objects” inside his body. While in the lockup, Gilder reportedly asked jailers, “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?” Previously, while sitting in the rear of a police car, Gilder mused, “I should have thrown them out the window.”

While a search of Gilder’s SUV did not turn up jewelry, cops found a variety of incriminating evidence, including price tags--one for $609,500, the other for $160,000--that matched the exact costs of the earring sets stolen from Tiffany. Seen above, a police evidence photo (click to enlarge) shows the tags sitting in a dashboard tray.

A review of court and law enforcement records reveals Gilder to be a prodigious thief, a convicted felon whose rap sheet dates back nearly 20 years and includes convictions for resisting arrest, assault, narcotics possession, and theft. Many, many theft cases.

Gilder was convicted of numerous “smash and grab” robberies committed in Texas in 2021 and 2022. He would use a hammer to break glass displays at pawn shops, stealing items worth more than $400,000 in aggregate. He took jewelry, watches, and precious metals. 

During an August 2021 robbery at Big City Pawn in Houston, a customer ran out of the shop, retrieved a revolver from his car, and fired five shots toward Gilder as he fled the business. Gilder jumped over two fences and escaped in a car he had borrowed from an ex-girlfriend. The woman told cops that Gilder claimed to need the vehicle to go on job interviews.

In December 2021, Gilder snatched a pair of earrings and two Rolexes out of the hands of a female sales clerk at a Houston jeweler and fled with items worth $133,000, records show.

In February 2022, Gilder appeared at a Tiffany location in suburban Houston “asking to see and compare the largest diamond rings,” investigators reported. He subsequently ran from a private viewing room with two rings valued at between $30,000 and $150,000, a criminal complaint stated.

In a 2024 court filing, Texas prosecutors stated that Gilder “is alleged to have committed several ‘smash and grab’ type robberies and thefts across Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma.”

Gilder is facing felony and fugitive charges in connection with the February 2022 robbery of a Colorado Springs jewelry store. He is wanted in that matter, having escaped town after securing bond. That crime occurred five days after the inaugural Tiffany heist.

Gilder’s trial run at Tiffany & Co. in Houston--and his other assorted robbery convictions--cost him nearly three years in custody, including an 18-month state stretch that ended in mid-November 2024.

Three months after walking out of a lockup in East Texas, Gilder appeared at The Mall of Millenia in Orlando pretending to represent an Orlando Magic player in the market for some expensive Tiffany & Co. jewelry.

That fresh-from-prison gambit ended with Gilder in handcuffs and then a hospital bed, where law enforcement officers stand by to see if, in fact, pressure creates diamonds. (5 pages)