Couple plead guilty in $10K diamond heist in Saint John

An Ontario couple accused of stealing a $10,000 diamond from a jewelry store in Saint John by swapping it with a cubic zirconia have pleaded guilty.

Grigori Zaharov, 70, and Natalia Feldman, 44, of Vaughn, both pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000 through a Russian interpreter in Saint John provincial courtThursday.

The pair were unrecognizable from the images shown in security camera video captured in the city Oct. 7.

Zaharov's beard hasbeen removed, Feldman's hair hung straight to her waist.

Sentencing for the Saint John offence will be held on Dec. 1. Itcarries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

Zaharov and Feldman have been in custody since Oct. 19, when they were arrested on a Canada-wide warrant outside their condo by York Region Police.

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The warrant was issued after W. Smith and Co. Fine Jewellersreleased the security video.

The video showsa couple looking at diamonds at the store counter. At one point, the man slips something into his pocket.

The facts in the case were read into the record by Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilburand then laboriously translated by an interpreter into Russian.

On the day of the theft the cruise ship Regatta was visiting Saint John, and the couple told the shop clerk they were passengers.

She later told police Zaharov spoke with an American accent and Feldmana German one.

The couple asked first to see a one-carat diamond and then for a second diamond valued at $25,000.

When the clerk produced the more valuable stone, she immediately suspected the first one had been "palmed."

She confronted the couple and they left the shop.

The clerk thenreviewed the security camera video and called police.

After the video was made public,police received an anonymous tip the couple had been spotted playing poker at the Halifax casino.

It was a lead that eventually led to their arrest near their condominium in Vaughn, Ont.

The diamond was recovered.

The store said the stonewas worth $10,000. Zaharovhas previously disputedthe value, saying it was worth between $3,000 and $4,000 wholesale.

In court Thursday, Zaharovsaidin English that Feldmandid not handle the stone.

"She never touched anything." he said.

The Crown and defence will issue a joint recommendation on a sentence for Feldman.

Zaharov protested when he learned his partneris to be taken to the women's prison in Miramichi pending the sentencing onDec. 1.

That led to a brief argument between the couple, with Feldman repeatedly assuring Zaharov that it was "OK."

Zaharov politely thanked Judge Andrew LeMesurier before the couple left the courtroom in the company of sheriff's officers.

Zaharov and Feldman are also accused of swapping out two diamonds worth an estimated $20,000for cubic zirconia at a store in Charlottetown.