X-ray shows diamond earrings swallowed by theft suspect during arrest, police say

A suspected thief gulped down two pairs of diamond earrings during his arrest on the side of a Florida Panhandle highway last week, detectives say, leaving them with the unenviable task of waiting to “collect” the Tiffany & Co. jewelry worth nearly $770,000.

A suspected thief gulped down two pairs of diamond earrings during his arrest on the side of a Florida Panhandle highway last week, detectives say, leaving them with the unenviable task of waiting to “collect” the Tiffany & Co. jewelry worth nearly $770,000. In the squad car, a state trooper heard the suspect say, “I should have thrown them out the window,” and at the Washington County jail he asked staff, “Am I going to be charged with what is in my stomach?” according to the arrest report. The 32-year-old man from Texas is accused of two felonies for forcibly stealing the earrings from an upscale Orlando shopping center last Wednesday. An X-ray of his torso shows what the Orlando Police Department believed to be the diamond earrings — a white mass shining brightly against the grey backdrop of his digestive tract. “These foreign objects are suspected to be the Tiffany & Co earrings taken in the robbery but will need to be collected … after they are passed,” the department’s arrest report said. Orlando police spokeswoman Kaylee Bishop said Wednesday she was checking with the lead detective on whether the earrings had been recovered yet.