Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} An undercover sting has led to to the arrest of a northern Virginia jeweler who was swapping his customers' diamonds with cheap pieces of glass, according to police.
Police received two separate reports from women who got suspicious when their diamonds were returned to them looking more dull and less lustrous than before.
In April, a woman took several pieces of jewelry to the Vima Jewelry store in Great Falls for an appraisal. When she returned home, she noticed that a necklace and pendant were missing.
Then in June, another woman reported that she was shopping in the same store when the jeweler noticed her large diamond engagement ring and offered to clean it for her while she shopped. He took it in the back to clean it, and she says that she got suspicious when he returned it and the diamond looked cloudy and damaged. An appraiser told her that her rock was in fact not a diamond at all—it had been replaced with a shiny piece of glass.
That’s when police stepped in. An undercover officer took more than a dozen pieces of jewelry to the store while the owner, Robert Mikail was working. They asked for an appraisal, and when the items were returned, an appraiser determined that one of the diamonds had been swapped out for a cheaper, smaller, lower-quality one.
Robert Mikail of Broadlands, Va., has been charged with grand larceny, and grand larceny with the intent to resell.
