Still Waiting for Reward

Two Chamblee jewelers still wait for reward!

Shawn Slep, Chamblee jeweler and artisan, hoped heiress Kathleen DuRoss Ford would invite him to her Palm Beach, Fla., mansion. He expected, at the very least, a thank you note along with his share of a $1 million reward for helping the FBI recover Ford's stolen jewels.

But five months after Slep and his business partner, Randy Jones, led the FBI to Florida jewelry dealer Barry Marshall and a cache of gems stolen in a $7.5 million heist from Ford's home, they have heard nothing from either Ford or her attorney. Disappointed and disgusted, Slep said, "Now, we just want the reward."

More than $2 million of Ford's jewelry collection stolen in the January 1997 burglary is now in police hands. Marshall and Alvaro Valdez, a man identified by authorities as the burglar of the Ford estate, have pleaded guilty to federal charges associated with the interstate transport of the stolen gems.

Even so, Ford's West Palm Beach attorney, Frank Chopin, said Monday there's a good reason why Ford has not paid the $1 million reward. Law enforcement authorities in Florida have never returned any of the recovered jewels to Ford, Chopin said. Nearly $5 million of Ford's jewels are still missing. And, according to Florida prosecutors and Palm Beach police, the investigation into a string of Florida burglaries that netted more than $40 million in jewels from some of the wealthiest people on the Florida coast remains open.

"It is an active case," said Janet Kinsella, spokeswoman for the Palm Beach Police Department. "We are pursuing additional leads. There likely will be another arrest."

Police have yet to formally charge anyone with the burglary of Ford' s Palm Beach mansion, Chopin said, an assertion that Kinsella confirmed. State prosecutors intend to file charges within the next 60 days, she said.

"Everyone is willing to assume that Mr. Valdez is, in fact, the burglar, " Chopin said. "He has not been charged yet (with the burglary). He has not been convicted." Any suggestion that Ford does not intend to pay the reward once the case is resolved is both irresponsible and offensive, Chopin said. "It suggests that somehow Mrs. Ford is not honorable. There's no bad faith. There's no reluctance to honor her commitment."

The two Chamblee jewelers became entangled in what one called the recovery of "the hottest jewels on the planet" in December 1997. Marshall, a dealer Jones had known for years, brought an antique emerald surrounded by 12 small diamonds to him to sell on consignment, Jones said. He also shipped three other diamonds, one larger than four carats, for Slep to fashion into a platinum ring, Jones said.

One of the potential buyers to whom Jones showed the stunning emerald was Jeff Meyer, an Atlanta jewelry dealer. Meyer spotted photos of the stolen Ford collection on the Internet along with the notice of the $1 million reward. Meyer, with whom Slep and Jones plan to share the reward, alerted Jones that the emerald might have once been part of a stolen necklace that once belonged to Henry Ford. After comparing the emerald and the diamonds they said Marshall had left with them to the Ford photos, Jones and Slep called the FBI. Thus began an investigation that swept the two small-town jewelers in an Atlanta suburb into the hunt for jewel thieves.

Marshall was arrested outside their Chamblee shop on Dec. 11, 1997, as he was allegedly delivering additional pieces of the necklace to sell. Acting on information from Marshall, authorities in Florida later arrested Valdez, who police said had sold pieces of Ford's collection to Marshall for cut-rate prices behind a Florida doughnut shop.

Although they were afraid of Marshall and his then-unknown partners in crime, Jones and Slep cooperated with the FBI and Palm Beach police. "We realized this piece (the antique emerald necklace) was being chopped up and once it was, it could never be put back together again, " Jones said.

"In my little fairy tale world, I wanted to put it (the necklace) back together or just see it," said Slep, who began cutting gems as a jeweler's apprentice when he was only 13. "Then we just wanted to meet her. Then we just wanted a thank you."

Kinsella said that Slep and Jones "helped us considerably. If we had a reward to give, we would certainly consider them worthy of it. . . . But this reward was offered by Mrs. Ford and her attorneys. We have no say in who gets it or when." ajc.com The newspaper's Web site today gives you more on the Ford jewel heist, including photos of the jewels. Plus: A look at the Atlanta Police Department's edgy, groundbreaking page.

R. Robin McDonald, Two Chamblee jewelers still wait for reward., 06-16-1998, pp D02; D02.