Hollywood man scammed Key West jewelry store out of $50K in jewels, cops say

Key West’s word-of-mouth helped police nab a con man who stole more than $58,000 worth of jewelry from a Duval Street store earlier this year.

Tommy Demetro, of Hollywood, 37, was arrested on two charges of grand theft after the son of the jewelry store owners went on Facebook with still photos of surveillance footage and accusations of theft.

Employees from Small Dog Electronics, Margaritaville Resort and Marriott Beachside Resort responded to the post, recognizing the suspect as having visited their businesses, and police followed clues to find Demetro, who was arrested Nov. 9.

Demetro was incarcerated in Oklahoma when Key West police obtained arrest warrants for him in September. He also had warrants out for him in Florida and Virginia.

Police accounts describe Demetro as a classic con man: “Demetro had multiple aliases, two different dates of birth, two different Social Security numbers and no valid driver’s license in any of the 50 states.”

Demetro is charged with stealing jewelry from Neptune Designs and trying to steal $3,000 worth of merchandise from Small Dog. At Small Dog, a man came in wanting to buy laptops and insisted he type in a manual number to pay for it. But the clerk said without a credit card number the sale wouldn’t be complete.

A Little Switzerland store clerk said Demetro visited their shop, asking to see the most expensive wristwatches there and offering to pay full price for them — something that rarely happens, the clerk told police.

The suspect left the store once the clerk began asking questions.

The case began on March 20, when a man and a woman entered Neptune and wanted to buy a bracelet set and several necklaces, for a total of $50,832. But his credit card was declined. That’s when the man had the woman call his bank. He then typed in some numbers that went through.

The store salesperson later realized the transaction had not been approved and called police. Jason Pfhal, whose parents own the jewelry store, went on Facebook with surveillance photos and a warning about the man, who had signed the Neptune receipt as Troy Alexander of Beverly Hills, California.

The post and word of mouth led to police locating the suspect. Police got help from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and a probation officer who identified Demetro as the suspect.

The police report does not say whether the jewelry was recovered.