Illinois Jewelers Information Exchange

Information provided by Chicago Jewelers Association
Where: Des Plaines and the surrounding Illinois suburbs.

Description: White male from Eastern Europe, 5’7”, 140 lbs., clean cut, short, brown hair, soft spoken, good, but heavy accented English.

Information: He claimed to be looking for GIA certificated 1 1/3 carat diamonds of good color and cut, and tried to pay with a WAMU certified check. When the clerk went to make a copy of the check, the perpetrator fled the store. Andriy Kovtonyuk is the name on the check, and he claims he has no license.

Please be on the lookout for this man. If you have any leads, do not hesitate to call CJA with information at 312-641-5201. We are in touch with local law enforcement, and will contact the appropriate personnel.

We received this report on Thursday -

2 male Hispanics were just in my store trying to sell 4 yellow rings that are marked 14k but are not real gold.   When I refused to buy he got in my face and accused me of being racist.  He became very loud while there were other customers I the store.  They called us about 5 minutes before coming in.  They asked if we buy gold.  One is very fat and the other is medium build.

In the Naperville, Illinois area there is a group of six (now five; one was just caught) men from Lithuania (all have accents) that are passing bad checks.  The one that came in our store had a State I.D. (not driver’s license).  We didn’t take his check, but we were suspicious and called the police after the fact, and as it turned out, they were looking for him.  They caught him about two hours later, but there are five more out there.

On 6-11-09 Brady Jewelers in Harvard Ill was robbed of a large amount of Landstroms Black Hills Gold, wedding sets and other high priced jewelery. This happened around 3:30pm.  

This information has been provided by the Chicago Jewelers Association.

3 Hispanic males have been going around to jewelry shops in Chicago’s northwest side, and northwest suburbs passing off fake gold! They have fake gold chains that are stamped 14K, and come into the store near closing time, so as to rush the employee into not examining the gold.

TEST YOUR GOLD BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE IT