BELLEVIEW, WA (KIRO/CNN) - Police in Washington arrested a man they said stole a diamond worth $100,000 in February.
Part of the man’s get-up was posing as a service member to gain the trust of store employees.
It's a face jeweler Kianoush Fanaeian won't forget.
Police said Ar'quae Kennedy posed as a soldier, said he was about to be deployed and wanted to buy an engagement ring for his fiancé.
“I think he do (did it) on purpose,” Fanaeian said. “I think that's his plan to make us comfortable when he's coming in."
When kennedy asked to see larger diamonds at Diamonds Inc. in February, they trusted him.
As Fanaeian looked up the price of a 5.5 carat Marquise diamond worth more than $100,000, “he jumped and took the diamond from our designer’s hand. He grabbed it and ran away and I chased him.”
He ran after Kennedy and grabbed him.
As a getaway driver drove up, Kennedy jumped in the back seat.
“I grab his leg and his belt so half of his body in the car, half in my hand,” said Fanaeian. “He said push the gas.”
Fanaeian held on as the car dragged him down the street.
Kennedy got away but the glass in the jewelry store had just been cleaned, and his finger prints were easy to lift.
Investigators reviewed the surveillance video and could tell Kennedy was an imposter.
"He was standing at attention at the jewelry counter with his cover on, or as they call it in the military, his hat on and that is not the correct etiquette for when you walk into a place,” said Capt. Lisa Patricelli of the Bellevue Police Department.
“You take your cover off. I thought it was very disrespectful to the military folks that do wear that uniform for all the reasons that they do.”
Detectives tracked Kennedy to Vancouver, WA, and arrested him.
"I'm really happy, I'm very happy," Fanaeian said.
Police are still looking for Kennedy's accomplices.
They also have not recovered the stolen diamond.
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