A newly unsealed government filing lays out in vivid detail how a crew of thieves led by former Chicago Police Deputy Supt. William Hanhardt stole about $2 million in gems from safe-deposit boxes at a Columbus, Ohio, hotel during a 1994 jewelry show.
In the two months before the show, Hanhardt’s top thief, Joseph Basinski, repeatedly checked into the hotel under the name “Sol Gold” or a similar alias and asked to keep valuables in the hotel’s safe-deposit boxes. His real purpose, authorities said, was to copy the keys to the boxes.
Late one night during the jewelry show, a woman identifying herself as Mrs. Sol Gold was allowed into the room where the safe-deposit boxes were kept. The next morning, eight salesmen reported their boxes had been cleaned out.
A spokesman for the Hyatt Hotels chain said after the Columbus theft that the hotel addressed security concerns about the safe-deposit boxes.
The crew scouted jewelry salesmen from around the country during the final year of the scheme, the document shows.
Through wiretaps, FBI surveillance and myriad records, authorities detailed the crew’s methodical planning as it targeted more than 100 salesmen.
The filing showed that Hanhardt relied on friends in the Chicago Police Department to run license plates and used contacts at car-rental agencies to gather information on jewelry salesmen and their cars.
