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Jail Escapee’s Accomplice in Jewel Robbery Captured in Florida

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Times Staff Writer

Florida police have captured a man who allegedly robbed a Chicago jewelry store earlier this month with Michael Douglas Taylor, the mastermind of one of Orange County’s largest jailbreaks.

Taylor, 35, led five Orange County Jail inmates on an escape Nov. 20 by rappelling from the top of the four-story building in downtown Santa Ana. Four of the inmates were captured or turned themselves in; Taylor is still a fugitive.

Police said Taylor has stolen about $2 million in jewels from two dozen Southern California stores, including seven in Orange County.

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Richard Wayne Gettic, 32, who told police that he was Taylor’s accomplice, was captured in Pensacola, Fla., on Feb. 10, after he attempted to sell stolen jewelry to an undercover officer in Florida, according to Detective Steve Kazarian of River Grove, a small town 3 miles west of Chicago.

Kazarian, who is investigating the jewelry heist, said Gettic confessed to the Chicago robbery.

Gettic, who remains in a Pensacola jail on stolen property charges, told authorities that he and Taylor kidnaped Elsa Pacini, a 42-year-old jewelry store manager, from her Chicago home the night of Feb. 2 and forced her at gunpoint to take them to her brother’s jewelry store in River Grove. They made off with at least $450,000 in gold and diamonds, Kazarian said.

Gettic and Taylor apparently fled south to Gary, Ind., and then on to New York City where they parted on Feb. 6, Kazarian said.

“They’re friends, but we don’t know where they met,” Kazarian said.

He said Gettic and Taylor apparently staked out Pacini’s home and the jewelry store for several weeks before the robbery.

Kazarian said Gettic would probably not be returned to Chicago until the Florida case is completed.

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Taylor is also suspected of numerous jewelry store heists in Chicago, his hometown, Kazarian said.

Taylor’s escape from Orange County Jail was not his first. He also escaped from California’s Chino state prison in 1975 while serving a sentence for an armed robbery.

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