Seat-Belt Violations Lead Police to 75% of Stolen Davis Jewelry

Two men stopped by French police because they had not fastened their seat belts have led police to three-quarters of the $10 million in jewelry taken at gunpoint from Beverly Hills billionaire Marvin Davis on the Riviera, investigators said Wednesday.

The jewelry, found stashed beneath a rock near Nice, includes a number of valuable pieces. But still missing are a 32-carat diamond ring, two gold-and-diamond necklaces, a pair of earrings and a watch, along with $50,000 in cash also taken, police said.

Police described the seized pair as accomplices of the still-missing robbers. They have been charged with receiving stolen property and jailed in nearby Grasse.

Davis, 67, and his wife, Barbara, came through the robbery unscathed and unperturbed, according to Lee Solters, the couple’s public relations representative in Los Angeles, who talked to the oil and film tycoon on the telephone Wednesday morning.

The Davises picked up the recovered jewels Wednesday morning at Nice police headquarters.

Solters said that Marvin Davis has confirmed an earlier police account of the holdup on Sunday.

“He said that while they were driving in their limousine (on the road between Nice and Antibes), the so-called security car following them got held up in traffic,” Solters said. “He said a car pulled across the road in front of them, four masked men got out and covered everyone--the Davises and their chauffeur--with guns.”

On Monday, police stopped a Renault near Nice for the seat-belt violation. Two men in the car--Jean-Luc Pieto and Jean-Pierre Berquin, both 32 and from the Paris area--were arrested after police found the Davises’ passports in the vehicle, officials said.

Marvin Davis is one of the nation’s wealthiest businessmen, with a net worth estimated recently by Fortune magazine at about $2.6-billion.

Correcting a Times reporting error on Wednesday that stemmed from a similarity in names, Solters said Mrs. Davis, who is active in philanthropic efforts, was not married previously and never had a child who died from AIDS.