Alabama Jeweler to Plead Guilty in Missing Diamonds Case

The former owner of a Mountain Brook, Ala., jewelry store has agreed to plead guilty in a missing diamonds case.

Court documents filed Friday show Joseph Harold Gandy of Vestavia Hills has agreed to plead guilty to money laundering and being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.

Federal prosecutors say he reported a large quantity of diamonds stolen from his Mountain Brook store, Denman-Crosby Jewelry, in 2004 and collected $2.6 million in insurance. But then he had a friend pawn four diamonds in 2013 that were among the items he reported stolen nine years earlier. Two measured more than three carats. Investigators found more of the missing jewelry at his home, along with 99 weapons.

Gandy’s plea agreement calls for a sentence of three years and nine months