Florida jeweler Jeff Halliday was arrested two times in less than two weeks for allegedly taking in goods on consignment without a proper secondhand dealer’s license, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

In the first case, Halliday, who owns the Coin of the Realm store in Islamorada, Fla., was arrested on Oct. 7 after a local resident complained a check Halliday wrote him for $7,000 in consignment merchandise had bounced.

He was charged with purchasing and consigning secondhand goods without a license to do so.

Then, a little over a week later, on Oct. 18, the jeweler was again arrested on similar charges.

This case began when a local woman told deputies that she brought her engagement ring into Halliday’s store. She claims he agreed to sell it for her for $6,500, and give her $4,200.

The woman says she returned to the shop in November 2010 and asked for the ring back. Halliday reportedly told her he sold it to a friend but hadn’t received the money. She returned several times, but never received the money. She eventually complained to the Sheriff’s office.

In addition to another count of engaging in consignment sales without a secondhand dealer’s license, Halliday was charged with grand theft. 

A blog from the sheriff’s office notes that Halliday was involved in a similar case of buying from the public without a license in 2010.

“The judge told him to get a secondhand license,” says Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Becky Herrin. “But apparently, he never did.”

Halliday tells JCK he is “trying to get these cases straightened out.” He says that he no longer buys from the public, and that he didn’t realize he needed a secondhand license for consignment pieces. He adds that the engagement ring was “stolen from him” and he is trying to get it back.

JCK