(The Post-Standard May 10, 2003)

Diamond Switch Rocks Man

He wound up with cubic zirconia after paying $2,000. Police seek the sellers.
By Sue Weibezahl

Doug Lalone was trying to do something nice to surprise his wife for Mother's Day, but ended up getting an expensive surprise himself.

The diamonds he brought and had appraised were switched at the last minute, leaving him $2,000 poorer and holding an envelope of cut glass.

"After all is said and done and the smoke clears, shame on me," Lalone said. "It was my fault. Normally, I'm the most cautious guy in the world. They must've just caught me with my guard down."

Two men approached Lalone on Thursday in the diner where he works at State Fair and Hiawatha boulevards, asking him whether he was interested in buying the four diamonds, police reports said.

It's not the type of thing he would normally do, he told police, but with Mother's Day coming up, he considered it.

Although he suspected the four diamonds the pair showed him might be fake, he decided to check with a jeweler friend.

"They were adamant the diamonds were real and said they didn't mind going to have them appraised," Lalone said.

The group went to Jewelry on James to consult with gem expert Tom Marini, who is a friend of Lalone's. Marini tested them, proclaimed the diamonds real and said they were worth $700 to $800 each.

Lalone agreed to buy them all for $2,000. He handed the sellers the cash. They handed him the folded white slip of paper that contained the diamonds.

When Lalone returned to the jewelry store to discuss a possible setting for his wife's new ring, "He (Marnini) unwrapped them, and his jaw dropped, and right then and there, I knew I'd been duped."

The sellers had, at some point, switched the envelopes, keeping the real diamonds and handing him some cubic zirconia.

Lalone had spent several hours with the diamond sellers, both while they ate lunch at Mama Nancy's Diner and during the appraisal and price negotiation.

He gave police a detailed description and said he'd definitely recognize them if he saw them again, "But I don't think I'll ever see them or my money again."

Lalone for years had operated an auto detailing business next to the diner and was used to people coming in trying to sell things, he said.

"These guys walked in and they asked for me by name," he said. The pair said a relative who needed the money was dismantling a valuable diamond necklace and selling the diamonds piecemeal.

The men were well-dressed and well-spoken, so his suspicions weren't immediately aroused, Lalone said.

But he was kicking himself Friday.

"I'm not a kid," he said. I'm 44 years old, with six kids of my own. I should've known better, but live and learn, I guess."

Whatever he decides to do for Mother's Day for Tammy Lalone now "will be a lot cheaper than what I was thinking,"

His wife didn't chastise him, he said. "She patted me on the head and sent me to bed, which was almost worse than having someone yell at you."

"He's devastated," Tammy Lalone said. "I still can't figure out how they pulled this over on him, bold as can be. He's not the type to fall for something like this, but they knew exactly what they were doing. Here he was, trying to do such a nice thing and it turned out like this.

"We're all just sick about it."

If anyone has information about the scam artists or has been conned in a similar crime, they can call the city police department's criminal investigation division at 442-5222.