By Patrick Anderson
A 7.5-carat diamond estimated to be worth $100,000 is at the center of a legal battle between investigators, who say it was stolen from a Gloucester woman, and a Newton jewelry dealer who bought the gem and has so far refused to give it up.
David Guiness of Newton was arrested Monday after arriving at Gloucester District Court without the diamond, which a subpoena issued earlier in the week had ordered him to forfeit. He was charged with receiving stolen property.
Guiness, 54, bought the diamond from Laura Vielma, a 21-year-old Danvers woman who police say has confessed to stealing it while working in a West Gloucester residence as a private nurse.
Vielma, who was charged with four counts of larceny, pleaded not guilty Monday at her arraignment.
In a hearing Tuesday in Salem Superior Court over Guiness' bail, his lawyer, David Sokol of Boston, told Judge David Lowy that his client was not satisfied with forfeiting the diamond and losing the difference between what he paid for it and what Vielma had remaining in her bank account.
Vielma is accused of using the proceeds of the diamond sale to begin a brief spending spree.
Guiness posted the $50,000 bail in cash hours after being arrested and is free on personal recognizance.
Lowy denied a request for a bail reduction after unsuccessfully trying to get Sokol to tell him where the diamond is.
Yesterday Sokol told the Times that the diamond described by police was different from the gem Guiness bought from Vielma and prosecutors may be looking for the wrong stone.
Sokol would not say where the diamond Guiness bought from Vielma is now, but that at the time authorities told his client he had purchased stolen jewelry and said they wanted it back, it was "not in his possession."
He said there was no legal standing for authorities to compel his client to re-possess the diamond in order to present it as evidence that could be used to incriminate him.
Buying an item knowing it was stolen is illegal; buying it not knowing it was stolen is not.
The search for the diamond began Nov. 5, when a Two Penny Lane woman told police her ring, which was at least 90 years old, had been stolen from her house.
The woman pointed detectives to Vielma, who had been hired to take care of the woman's sick husband two months before and had recently showed up at work with new shoes and a laptop computer.
There were no signs of forced entry in the house and no one besides the woman, her husband and Vielma had access to the ring, which was kept in a purse on the kitchen counter.
The woman said an appraiser had told her in 2002 that the ring was worth $90,000.
After finding the ring missing, the woman said she had looked in Vielma's purse and found starter checks for a new bank account along with $1,000 in cash.
Gloucester Police Lt. Michael Lane and Detective Kenneth Ryan, working from account numbers the woman provided, found Vielma had $24,000 in the new account, down from an initial deposit of $35,000. The account was frozen.
The next day, after showing up at the victim's house for work unaware she was under investigation, Vielma was taken to the police station where she told detectives she had taken the ring after looking through the victim's purse for $20.
Under the threat of arrest, Vielma told police she had taken the ring to a pawn shop in Beverly to sell. She said the shop owner told her it was too valuable for him to handle, but that he could connect her with someone in Boston who could.
The next day, she returned to the shop and met with Guiness, who bought the diamond for $35,000 without asking for picture identification, as required by law, according to the police report. He took the gem itself and left the setting, which was later confiscated by police.
Vielma told police she had told the pawn shop owner and Guiness that she had inherited the ring from her great-grandmother, but had not looked either man in the eye and didn't think they believed her.
With the proceeds of the diamond sale, Vielma bought a plasma television, laptop computer, purse and new shoes, she told detectives.
According to the police report, in addition to the ring, Vielma confessed to taking from her Gloucester employer a bracelet she sold for $1,034, a gold necklace she sold for $800 and 12 gold coins each worth $900. The coins and bracelet were sold to the Beverly pawn shop and the necklace was sold to a shop in Salem.
When first questioned by Beverly police, the pawn shop owner at first denied knowing about a ring sale and had no record of any sales involving Vielma, according to police.
Yesterday Lane said Gloucester police were talking with Beverly police and the Essex County district attorney about possible charges against the pawn shop.
When police first contacted Guiness through the pawn shop owner, Lane said Guiness had indicated he would turn the diamond over, but later in the week refused, leading to the subpoena.
Lane said if Guiness had returned the diamond, police would not have filed charges against him and Guiness could have recovered the difference between what he paid for the ring and what was left in Vielma's bank account through a possible restitution order if she is convicted.
Sokol yesterday said his client had not known the ring was stolen and pointed to the fact that he had paid by check as evidence.
Guiness is scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing Jan. 6. Vielma is due in court Dec. 29.
Lane said he thinks Guiness knew the ring was stolen when he bought it, but that returning the gem would go a long way to resolving the issue.
"We would allege that he knew or should have known," Lane said. "The more time we spend trying to get the ring back, the stakes are raised."
Patrick Anderson may be contacted at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
