Crackdown on cash for jewelry

LARGO - Florida state lawmakers are considering cracking down on mail-in jewelry businesses that accept jewelry in the mail in exchange for cash.

The concern is that legitimate mail-in businesses may be easy targets for jewelry thieves, who trade in stolen gold and other jewelry for cash.

Senator Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, proposed a bill Thursday imposing stricter regulations.

Currently, few questions are asked during the mail-in process.

"If there's no questions asked and no driver's license required other than your name to receive your check, who are you going to go to? The guy that wants to fill out all the forms and take your thumb print and driver's license or the guy who tells you how it easy it is to send it in a box and get your check in 24 hours?" said Largo Jeweler Ray Arnold, who owns Arnold's Jewelers.

Arnold's also sends out cash for jewelry by mail.

The law would require the companies to get driver's license numbers from sellers, hold items for 10 days before melting them down, and photograph every piece of jewelry they buy and share that database with police.

"It's requiring internet companies have some relationship with law enforcement so that they can monitor whether or not stolen goods are being fenced through these internet companies," said Senator Gelber.

Arnold thinks better regulation is a good idea in theory, but difficult to enforce.

"Photographing every fork they got, spoon, and ring and necklace and bracelet, the manpower alone would just be staggering," he said.

Arnold says he keeps track of all mail-in and store trade-in transactions, including identification. He says he has no way to know for sure if something is stolen, but he says he has a good idea.

"If I were to receive a large box of jewelry that looked new and it had diamonds in it and fine gem stones," Arnold said.

The bill also calls for jewelry sellers to sign a sworn statement saying they are the owner of the items they are mailing in. Gelber's proposal calls for rules similar to the ones pawn shops have to follow.