How an Emerald, 840 Pounds of It, Landed in Court

Yahoo! Sources ^ | Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | Tamara Audi

[indcons]

Just before Christmas, detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department pried open a crate outside a warehouse to find something they had been chasing for months: an 840-pound Brazilian emerald that had been reported stolen.

Now, if they could just figure out who owns it. So far, at least five people have come forward to say it's theirs.

"It seems like the more we talk to people, the more people claim to have ownership over this thing," said Lt. Thomas Grubb, who heads the sheriff's investigative team on the case. "We haven't determined who's not a suspect, really."

Unable to determine who the real owner is, Lt. Grubb decided to keep the emerald locked up while the investigation proceeds. Meanwhile, a Los Angeles civil court is scheduled to hear from different claimants in the case on Tuesday.

Lt. Grubb, who had spent the bulk of his 26-year career conducting narcotics investigations, first got onto the case last September. A distraught man named Larry Biegler had called the sheriff's office to say that his giant emerald had been stolen from a Los Angeles-area warehouse where he had been keeping it. It was worth nearly $400 million, he said.

[indcons]

That emerald is mine. Really.

[xcamel]

3rd time this story makes the rounds...

[FlyingEagle]

Yeah I’m pretty sure its mine.

[indcons]

Were there other new “owners” the first 2 times around?

[VanShuyten]

No it isn't. It's mine. It's not really Brazilian. I just said that to make it sound exotic. I dug it up in my back yard a couple of years ago and misplaced it when I was putting in some peonies.

[popdonnelly]

That’s some rock. I wonder how many polished stones could be made out of it?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

MINE! It fell out of my ring!

[aberaussie]

I wondered where I put that thing....

[xcamel]

Many freepers claimed it the first time (last december, IIRC)

[GOP_Lady]

[cc2k]

Mine. Actually, my wife's. It fell out of one of her Christmas earrings.

And if you find a 850 pound Ruby ...

[indcons]

"Those who have seen the emerald describe it as a black boulder with protruding arm-sized green crystal cylinders. Gem experts say unbroken crystals of that size are rare. Such a large specimen usually would not be broken down into smaller pieces for jewelry. It would more likely be sold intact to a private collector or a museum. An appraisal done in Brazil valued it at $372 million, according to documents filed with the Los Angeles court."

[indcons]

Did you lose MY ruby?

[GOP_Lady]

An unbelievable description of the rough. I would love to see it.

[stayathomemom]

It's not very pretty. I guess they can keep it.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

That emerald is mine. Really.

OK. Jut send me $10,000 and I'll file the paperwork for your bill of sale.

[GOP_Lady]

I think that ruby would be mine — my birthstone.

[Domandred]

Nope sorry mine. It fell overboard on my boat during a storm. Lost that and all my guns at the same time.

[indcons]

Huge mistake posting this thread - now, I have to deal with competing (though spurious) claims from other FReepers.

[calex59]

I am the true owner, but I will drop all claims of ownership for a mere 10 percent of its appraised value of 372 million. I think I am being more than generous.