Ronald Perley, aged 52, has been charged with theft and falsifying physical evidence after authorities claimed x-rays showed the ring – worth US$3,200 (A$3,053) – inside him, according to widespread media reports.
The man supposedly went into jewellery store Bellman's Jewelers last Friday asking about engagement rings. Staff said he grabbed a ring then swallowed it after being confronted.
Police claimed surveillance footage showed Perley taking the ring and putting his hand to his mouth.
Perley was being held on US$50,000 bail.
This is not the first time someone has used the “swallowing” technique in an attempt to steal a diamond. As previously reported by Jeweller, a man was arrested in South Africa last year for allegedly swallowing 220 polished diamonds, hoping to smuggle them on a flight to Dubai.
A man was also arrested in 2012 for attempting to steal a diamond at a Sri Lankan jewellery fair by swallowing it. It was later revealed that he had ingested a diamond simulant, which authorities believed was staged to distract attention from an accomplice who was able to escape with a natural diamond.
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