'Joe the Jeweler' accused in thefts

Joel Gola, aka "Joe the Jeweler," advertises his store across town with the tagline "Trusted for 18 years," but after yesterday, he might want to rethink his sales pitch.

Gola, 58, was arrested at his store on 8th Street near Sansom in Center City and will face charges of receiving stolen property and of making false reports to police after he tried to sell stolen goods, police said.

One of the items was a watch from a jewelry-store theft in Old City on Aug. 27, police said.

When police asked him to provide documentation of the purchase, "the paperwork wasn't consistent with a legitimate purchase," said a police detective who asked not to be identified.

"When you purchase jewelry from someone, the law requires you to be very specific, and the documentation provided was illegitimate," the detective said.

Gola was to be charged with making false reports because he provided two accounts of where the watch came from, police said.

He was arrested and charged with similar offenses in 2002, but the charges were later dropped, according to court records.