Emerald recovered in LV just a rock police want to drop

Most Las Vegas visitors return home with a cheesy souvenir, whether it's a flashing mini "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign or a "What happens in Vegas" T-shirt.

Last weekend, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department returned to Southern California with a treasure of its own: an 850-pound rock embedded with the Bahia Emerald.

The massive emerald is no hokey gift. But, like many souvenirs, the sheriff's department no longer wants it. In fact, detectives don't even want to talk about it.

"We just want to get rid of it," Los Angeles Sheriff's Lt. Thomas Grubb said. "I just wanted to get that damn thing and get out of Dodge."

The emerald is said to be worth as much as $370 million, but recently was posted on eBay for $19 million. It reportedly was stolen from a vault in South El Monte in September. Sheriff's detectives followed tips that led them across the Western United States.

The gem wound up hidden in Las Vegas.

Grubb said Las Vegas police escorted his detectives to a warehouse Friday. Neither Las Vegas police nor Grubb would disclose the location of the storage unit.

"I don't even think the people at the warehouse knew it was there," Grubb said. "This guy (who possessed the gem) brought this frickin' crate out."

Those in possession of the emerald cluster agreed to surrender it and prove ownership in court. The battle between the owners who stored the emerald in a Southern California vault and those who placed it in the Las Vegas warehouse will play out in Los Angeles.

In the meantime, the emerald will remain with the sheriff's department, Grubb said.

"From our perspective, we don't want to say where the stone is or where we got it," Grubb said. "The information was these guys had possession of the stone and were willing to give it up because they knew they might get in trouble."

According to accounts posted on the Internet, the stone's venture from the Brazilian jungle to an unguarded warehouse was fit for an Indiana Jones script.

"It's a bizarre story, very interesting," Grubb said. "It's quite a story. Even if half of it is true, it would make a good movie."

In 2001, a miner in the Caraiba emerald mine discovered the stone and excavated it from a massive black rock in the Brazilian state of Bahia, according to the Fortress Australia Outpost Web site.

A team of miners used a crew of mules to transport the stone through the jungle. When a pack of black panthers attacked and killed the mules, the miners were forced to construct a makeshift stretcher made of wood and vine to finish their trek. They needed 11 months to cover 700 miles.

The stone, holding clusters of gemstones weighing a total of 180,000 carats, was shipped to the United States for safekeeping, according to the Australian publication.

Grubb said whoever took the emerald from the vault produced authentic-looking paperwork to prove they were the owners.

The Bahia Emerald, which is approximately 3 feet tall and 31/2 feet wide, is thought to be the world's second-largest emerald stone.

The largest single-cut emerald stone is the rectangular Mogul Emerald, which weighs 218 carats and is about 3 inches tall, according to the International Colored Gemstone Association.

The Mogul Emerald was sold to an unidentified buyer for $2.2 million at Christie's London auction in 2001. The sale set a world record for an emerald from India's Mogul Dynasty.

Since its recovery on Friday, Grubb said he has received all sorts of strange calls. Some callers simply wanted to educate him on the emerald; others claimed to have owned it in Brazil. Exasperated by the attention the emerald has received, Grubb said he will be thrilled when the court rules on its ownership and removes it from his custody.

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.