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Jewelers' Row store owner sentenced to prison for fencing stolen jewels

A Philadelphia jeweler who fenced diamonds worth more than $3 million for a group of thieves who targeted shops across the country was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 71/2 months in prison.

A Philadelphia jeweler who fenced diamonds worth more than $3 million for a group of thieves who targeted shops across the country was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 71/2 months in prison.

Eric Janovsky, 44, also was sentenced to 71/2 months of home confinement by U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez in Portland, Ore., where the case was prosecuted.

And Hernandez also ordered Janovsky and his Jewelers' Row business, Three Gold Bros., to pay $539,843 in restitution.

The thieves approached Janovsky at his Sansom Street store in 2009 after they were unable to find a buyer in New York, prosecutors said.

He paid them in cash, told them to bring whatever diamonds they could get, and instructed them to use code words like "not for eBay" to indicate the diamonds were stolen, prosecutors said.

One diamond stolen in Arizona was originally worth $146,000. Janovsky had not yet sold it and he voluntarily returned it to authorities.

Though Janovsky was not involved in the heists, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo, "what truly fueled the conspiracy and funded the continued over-the-top thefts throughout the country was willingness of defendants Three Gold Bros. and Janovsky to purchase stolen diamonds."

Janovsky and his business pleaded guilty in July to one count of possession and sale of stolen property that traveled across state lines.

Three Gold Bros. was sentenced to two years of probation and is expected to do business until August in order to make continued restitution payments.

In August, an advertisement will appear in JCK Magazine, a jewelers' trade magazine, with Three Gold Bros. admitting that it bought stolen diamonds, pleaded guilty to a felony, and was going out of business.

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@RobertMoran215