NEW YORK – A jewel thief wanted in connection with crimes from Florida to South Korea stole a diamond ring worth $255,000 from a Tiffany store in New York and exchanged it for a cubic zirconia replica, authorities said.
The robbery took place on March 4 at the Tiffany store in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center mall, according to a criminal complaint filed by the district attorney’s office.
Yaorong Wan, 49, asked an employee to let him see several pieces, including the quarter-million dollar ring, according to the complaint. Wan left without buying anything and the clerk put the ring back in the display case.
A week later, Tiffany employees discovered during a routine inventory that a fake ring had been replaced with a cubic zirconia stone.
Police investigators looked at surveillance footage from the store and saw Wan slip the real ring into his palm and exchange it for the fake one, according to the complaint.
Wan is also accused of stealing a diamond ring worth $25,000 from the Cartier store in the Hudson Yards building on March 12. In the second case, he put the ring in his pocket and did not leave a fake ring in its place, according to the complaint.
Wan was arrested Friday and arraigned Saturday in Manhattan criminal court on grand theft charges.
He has open warrants in New Jersey and Nassau County on Long Island; suspected of robberies at Cartier stores in California and Florida; and is also wanted in South Korea on charges of robbing high-end jewelry stores, said Assistant District Attorney Eliana Ramelson when confronted.
Wan’s attorney, Amanda Barfield of New York County Protective Services, declined to comment Monday.
2024-05-07 01:55:31
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