Detectives with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Unit have arrested a former Gold & Diamond Source employee following an investigation into the theft of high-end watches totaling over $650,000.
The investigation began on May 15, 2025, after Gold & Diamond Source, located at 3800 Ulmerton Road, reported suspected internal theft. During a routine accounting audit on May 10, 2025, discrepancies were discovered involving fictitious customer information in the business’s point-of-sale system.
Detectives identified 32-year-old Michael Anthony Kelly of St. Petersburg as the employee responsible. Between October 31, 2021, and May 3, 2025, Kelly entered fraudulent sales records indicating that customers traded in watches and repurchased others. In reality, no customers were present. Surveillance footage showed Kelly conducting these transactions alone and concealing watches in his suit jacket.
Kelly was captured on video entering false trade-in sales on at least three occasions without any customer present. In total, 36 stolen watches were positively identified through a secondary audit, with an estimated loss of approximately $650,000 to the business. Kelly later returned 138 watches to the company, 102 remaining under audit to determine ownership. He also wired approximately $1,020,308.98 in cash back to the business, claiming the money was profit from the stolen watches.
Kelly’s employment was terminated on May 10, 2025. He was arrested on June 5, 2025, and charged with Scheme to Defraud. He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail. The investigation remains ongoing.