N. Naples man accused of stealing jewelry worth $1M gets two years in prison

A North Naples man arrested last year on suspicion of stealing jewelry valued at $1 million from a store he used to work at accepted a plea deal Thursday.

Collier Circuit Court Judge Frederick Hardt sentenced Jeffrey Vickers, 36, to two years and four months in state prison, to be followed by five years of probation.

Vickers had faced felony charges of burglary of an unoccupied structure and grand theft of $100,000 or more, court documents show.

On May 16, 2016, detectives responded to a jewelry store at Coastland Center mall in Naples in reference to a past burglary, according to a Collier County Sheriff's Office arrest report.

A manager told detectives that when she opened the store that morning, she discovered multiple pieces of jewelry, watches and loose diamonds were missing from the safe. 

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Surveillance video from the store showed a man open the electronic gate to the business the previous evening, the report states. The man then disarmed the alarm system, entered the combination of the safe and opened it.

He emptied the jewelry into his backpack until it was full and then took one of the store's garbage bags and filled that with more jewelry, according to the report. The man then opened the cash registers and took the money inside, the report states.

After closing and locking the safe, the man left the store, wearing a backpack and carrying the garbage bag full of jewelry, according to the report.

Two store employees identified Vickers, at the time a sales associate at the business, as the man in the surveillance video, the report states.

When detectives went to Vickers' home later that day, they could not find him. But they found his car parked at the community's clubhouse.

Inside the vehicle, in "plain view," they saw "jewelry display stands containing bracelets" on the rear floorboard behind the front passenger seat, according to the report.

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Later that day, deputies arrested Vickers on unrelated charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property.

When detectives interviewed him about the break-in, he admitted stealing the jewelry from the store "to fund his drug habit," the report states.

Vickers told investigators that he waited for employees to close the business and then opened the store with his key, disarmed the alarm and unlocked the safe.

After taking the jewelry and $460 to $500 from the cash register, Vickers left the mall with his car and drove to a gas station where he threw away the empty backpack and clothes he wore during the burglary, the report states.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for Vickers' car and found the missing jewelry in the trunk, according to the report. They also found the backpack and clothes in a trash can at the gas station.

Vickers was ordered to pay $18,154 to Fred Meyer Jewelers, with $8,623 to be paid up front, said Samantha Syoen, a State Attorney's Office spokeswoman, in an email.