NEW YORK (AP) — Two diamond dealers were sent to prison Friday for more than a year for staging an elaborate heist in hopes of snaring insurance money to save their failing business, a crime their attorneys said was driven by desperation.
"Every day for the rest of my life, I will carry the sin of this case. Every day for the rest of my life, I will live with the fact that I have brought this sin and terrible hardship on my entire family," said Atul Shah, apologizing and sobbing before he and Mahaveer Kankariya were sentenced to 20 months to five years behind bars.
Shah, 49, and Kankariya, 45, were convicted in March of engineering a New Year's Eve 2008 stick-up with flourishes fit for a caper movie: bandits disguised as Hasidic Jews, wearing fake beards and brandishing realistic-looking toy guns as they seemingly forced Shah to open a safe and empty it of gems. Police found plastic ties, duct tape and disarray when they arrived.
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