America’s elite rages as serial jewelry thief is given a pass for daughter’s Italian wedding after absurd plea

Victims of a retired professor turned jewelry thief are outraged over the light plea deal he was offered that will allow him to attend his daughter’s wedding in Italy.

Lawrence Gray, 80, made headlines in 2022 when the sons of his late wealthy socialite girlfriend Jacqueline Quillen accused him of selling dozens of her valuables.

Other victims subsequently came forward, and in August 2023, he was charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office with stealing seven pieces of jewelry and selling it for more than $45,000 between 2016 and 2018.

Gray initially maintained his innocence, but the former political science professor took a plea deal on September 24 and agreed to pay $55,850 in restitution to four people, including Frederick Vreeland, a former US ambassador, so that law enforcement would give him his passport back give, reported The Washington Post.

“It’s terrible that a serial thief gets away with so little punishment,” says Sandra Vreeland Zwollo, Vreeland’s wife.

“I’m sure Larry continues to believe he is innocent and that this is just a formality to attend his daughter’s wedding in Italy,” she added.

The terms of the agreement state that in exchange for his guilty plea and an initial payment of $15,000, prosecutors will return Gray’s passport to him “for the sole purpose” of attending his daughter’s wedding in Italy in October ‘as well as the wedding reception’. in November.

‘[The deal was] The only way I could get the passport back was to take the plea deal,” Gray told The Post.

His lawyer, Christopher Zampogna, said: ‘[He is] 80 years old and he didn’t want to carry it away. He didn’t want to fight anymore.’

Charges of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property were dropped as part of the plea deal, the Post reported.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Gray sold pieces of Buccellati jewelry, including a gold, silver and diamond pendant brooch, a pair of silver, gold and diamond pendant earrings, as well as two colors of gold, cabochon ruby ​​and diamond compacts .

The other pieces include a platinum, diamond and sapphire brooch from Verdura, a pair of sapphire, emerald and diamond earrings from Oscar Heyman Brothers, a gold, cabochon ruby ​​and diamond ring from Van Cleef & Arpels and a 19th century English pocket watch.

Airmail reported that the Vreelands said three Buccellati pieces of jewelry were missing from their home in Italy after Gray visited in July 2016, which they later saw for sale on the website of New York-based Doyle Auctioneers and Appraisers.

As part of the New York deal, Gray must pay $22,500 to Nannette Herrick, who says he stole a diamond and sapphire brooch worth $32,000 from her home in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2016 while staying as a guest for a wedding.

“It’s a pittance,” Herrick said of the plea deal. ‘It covers my lawyer’s costs and gives me no satisfaction.’

“I’m glad he got some form of punishment, but it’s more of a slap on the wrist for what he did to people.”

Charged by officials in Rhode Island, he pleaded no contest on October 8 and was ordered to pay Herrick $22,500.

“He’s disgusting, I don’t think he regrets anything,” Herrick said.

She said the brooch was a gift her husband gave her on their first wedding anniversary 54 years ago and nothing can replace its sentimental value.

Court documents show Gray even left a thank you note in the Herrick’s guestbook when he stole the brooch that said he had “such a wonderful time.”

Herrik told the Post she recalled Gray wandering near her bathroom during the stay.

“He said he was looking for a bathroom. I said [to him]“Every room has a bathroom,” including his. The next morning I couldn’t find the brooch.’

Police said Gray’s signature in a guest book at the wedding reception matched the consignment agreement with Doyle Auction House, where Herrick saw the brooch for sale five years later.

Gray also agreed to pay another victim, Elisabeth Porter, $8,250 for jewelry he said he stole from her Georgetown home when he came to dinner with his girlfriend.

“I never wanted money, I just wanted the jewelry back,” Porter said. “I would like to see Larry Gray in jail. He’s a mess.’

Gray and Quillen lived together in a $1.6 million Georgetown home she owned before dying of heart failure in October 2020 at age 77.

Quillen was the granddaughter of former Wall Street giant Alfred Lee Loomis, who invented the long-distance navigation system.

The couple met in Washington, D.C. in 2004 while he was on sabbatical from John Cabot University, according to an account of their relationship in Gray’s countersuit against her sons.

Gray was a professor of political science at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, and traveled back and forth between Rome and Washington, D.C., to be with Quillen before retiring in 2011.

For years, Quillen and Gray attended dinners and classical music concerts, and traveled extensively. Many of Gray’s victims claim he would use their event invitations to steal their belongings.

But according to the complaint, there were signs of trouble in their relationship as early as 2016, when Quillen “suspected that Gray was stealing from her.”

One of her sons, Parker, alleged that Gray stole art and jewelry from Jacqueline when her health deteriorated. The valuables included a $17,000 diamond ring, a $10,000 Patek Philippe watch and $4,700 diamond earrings.

The lawsuit was settled in a confidential agreement and Gray was indicted in Manhattan a year later.

Term reported that Jared Leto will produce and star in a film about Gray and his thefts.