Hubby a $5M gem thief?

ROSTRAVER, Pa. - The ex-wife of 84 Lumber Company founder Joe Hardy told police that her current but estranged husband has stolen $5 million worth of jewelry from their home.

Rostraver Township police said yesterday they were still looking for Paul Ucman II, 43, whom they charged Saturday with theft and receiving stolen property.

Debra Hardy-Ucman told police her husband took the jewelry from safes in her bedroom late last month, according to a criminal affidavit filed by township police officer Richard Beranek.

Authorities were doing an inventory of Debra Hardy-Ucman's jewels to determine exactly what was stolen. But the missing items include a diamond ring worth $650,000, a diamond necklace worth $500,000, a Rolex watch worth $100,000 and a Piaget watch worth about $85,000, according to the affidavit.

A telephone number listed in Ucman's name was disconnected yesterday. It was not immediately clear if he has an attorney.

Debra Hardy-Ucman told police she and Ucman are in the process of getting a divorce.

Surveillance cameras at the home showed Ucman arrived at the house about 20 minutes after Hardy-Ucman told her husband she was leaving the residence on the afternoon of Sept. 28. The cameras showed Ucman enter the bedroom where the safes are located, police said.

"The door to the safes were secure and were not forcibly entered," Beranek's affidavit said.

This is not the first time Hardy-Ucman has accused her husband of a crime. Police filed assault charges against Ucman after a domestic dispute in May, but a district judge dismissed them after Hardy-Ucman refused to testify in July.

Hardy-Ucman was the second wife of Joe Hardy, the millionaire founder of 84 Lumber.

Hardy had five children with his first wife and high school sweetheart, Dorothy, whom he divorced in 1997, to marry Debra, then an 84 Lumber employee. Debra Hardy had two children before the couple divorced.

Hardy married 23-year-old Kristin Georgi in May, but he filed for divorce in August, citing "irreconcilable differences."

Hardy, a flamboyant philanthropist who also serves as a Republican Fayette County Commissioner, celebrated his 84th birthday earlier this year with a party that included entertainers Christina Aguilera, Bette Midler and Robin Williams.

Hardy's daughter, Maggie Hardy Magerko, now runs the lumber company. *