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Man charged with faking $500,000 diamond robbery

By Michelle Graff
June 15, 2009
Henry Froats

Stuart, Fla.--A 30-year-old diamond salesman is being held in a Florida jail after police say he lied about being robbed of $500,000 worth of diamonds.

The alleged hoax began about 9:26 p.m. on June 10, when a Florida state trooper responded to a radio call of someone in need of help who phoned in from a call box along Interstate 95, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Detective Leo Ferreira of the Martin County Sheriff's Office in Stuart, Fla.

Upon the trooper's arrival at the highway location, he met Henry Froats of Hollywood, Fla. Froats told police that he had gotten a flat tire while driving down the highway and, when he stopped to change the tire, a white man driving a blue vehicle pulled up behind him and forced him, at gunpoint, to hand over a bag containing $500,000 worth of diamonds.

The suspect, Froats told police, then stole his wallet and cell phone and sped off, heading north on Interstate 95.

Following some investigation by police, Froats' story began to unravel, according to the police report. Officers examined a trunk inside a suitcase in the car, which contained a computer case. Inside the case were diamonds, a cell phone and a cell phone sim card.

According to the report, Froats initially told police that the diamonds in the computer case were his diamonds that he sold on the side and that the item in the case was an old sim card.

According to the affidavit, police eventually discovered that the cell phone sim card was current and was for the phone that he claimed had been stolen.

Froats first claimed that he had "lost the jewelry" and didn't want to get in trouble so he decided to file a false police report, according to police.

He then eventually told the detective that the diamonds in the case were the ones that he claimed were stolen and that his plan was to "tell his boss [Ron Stern, owner of Stern Diamonds] that he got robbed, and his boss would collect on the insurance and no one would get hurt in the process," the police report said.

Reached at his Florida offices, Ron Stern denied that Froats was an employee and described him instead as an independent contractor with his own diamond business who sometimes sells Stern's diamonds.

He said he had no further comment on the matter, as his company is currently conducting an internal investigation.

Froats was charged with "one count of grand theft over $100,000 for depriving his boss Ron Stern of the jewelry with the intent to commit insurance fraud, knowing that the jewelry was not taken in a robbery but stolen by himself," according to the report.

According to the sheriff's office, Froats is being held in the Martin County Jail in lieu of a $40,000 bond.
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