ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606240064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
Two Philadelphia jewelers were indicted Thursday on federal charges of buying $450,000 worth of stolen watches - including those from a Richmond, Va., robbery - so they could resell them at prices below those of competitors.
Boris Gershtein, 41, and Moshe Vaulin, 57, met with a thief and identified specific brands and styles they would buy, even fronting money to the thief so he could travel to other states to steal watches with such names as Rolex, Patek and Cartier, the grand jury charged.
According to the indictment, the jewelers once advanced $600 to a man, who has been charged separately, so that he could travel to Atlanta to steal watches. Five days later, the jewelers paid the man $25,000 for name brand watches having a wholesale value of $73,400 and a retail value of $133,450.
Similar deals were made for watches taken from a Fink's Jewelers store in Richmond, Va., and a Fink's Jewelers store doing business as Garibaldi & Bruns in Charlotte, N.C., the grand jury stated.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB