A 7.5-carat diamond stolen from a West Gloucester residence last fall was returned to its owner yesterday by a Boston jewelry dealer who was under pressure from prosecutors for refusing to part with it for more than a month.
Charges of receiving stolen property against the jeweler, 54-year-old David Guiness of Newton, were withdrawn after he delivered the gem, estimated to be worth around $100,000, to Gloucester District Court, where waiting detectives had it examined by an appraiser and then passed it on to its owner.
Guiness bought the diamond for $35,000 from Laura Vielma, the 22-year-old Danvers woman charged with stealing it while working as a nurse at the owner's house taking care of the woman's ill husband. Vielma is also known by the name Laura Damon in court records.
Investigators froze a bank account Vielma opened shortly after the diamond disappeared that contained around $25,000, the remaining proceeds of the sale to Guiness after she had gone on a spending spree that included a new plasma television, laptop computer, purse and new shoes.
Guiness had initially refused to surrender the diamond because the $25,000 police had recovered from Vielma and offered to have refunded to him left the jeweler with a nearly $10,000 loss, according to statements made by his lawyer in court.
But Gloucester police were not sympathetic and subpoenaed Guiness to produce the ring.
When he arrived at Gloucester District Court for Vielma's initial court appearance without the ring, police charged Guiness with receiving stolen property and threatened to prosecute him if he did not return the gem.
Unable to get the $10,000 spent by Vielma returned up front, Guiness will now have to rely on the Danvers woman to pay him the money in restitution.
As part of her deal with prosecutors, which included an admission to the facts of the charges, Vielma yesterday was ordered to repay $9,788.91 to Guiness.
The four counts of larceny against Vielma were continued without finding for two years in Gloucester District Court yesterday by Judge Joseph Jennings.
The diamond, which is at least 90 years old, was given a value of at least $90,000 by an appraiser in 2002.
To make sure the stone returned by Guiness was the same one that had been stolen, detectives had a appraiser hired by the owner examine it yesterday.
Reached by phone, the Medford-based appraiser declined to talk about the gem, citing the security and confidentiality of the owner.
But Detective Michael Lane, who led the police investigation of the theft, said the appraiser had called it one of the larger stones he had seen.
Lane described the diamond as nearing "gumdrop" size.
"It was big," he said.
The owner of the diamond, who did not want her name revealed, said she was very excited to get the stone back and appreciated the effort put in by police and prosecutors.
Vielma set off suspicions she had taken the diamond ring when she showed up at the owner's house for work with new shoes and a new laptop computer in early November. Vielma, who had been hired two months before, was the only person other than the owner with access to the diamond, which was kept in a purse on the kitchen counter.
Vielma also took a bracelet, 12 gold coins and a gold necklace from her employer, prosecutors said.
According to the police report, Vielma told police that after taking the ring, she had brought it to a pawn shop in Beverly to sell. The proprietor of the shop told her the diamond was too valuable for him to handle, but he referred her to Guiness, who met with Vielma the next day at the shop.
No record was kept of the sale, as is legally required, and Guiness did not ask for picture identification from Vielma or vigorously inquire where she acquired the gem, police said.
Lane said yesterday that Gloucester police were now working with law enforcement in Beverly to determine whether any laws had been broken by either Guiness or the pawn shop owner when the diamond was sold.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
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