The Audacious Grab: How a Diamond Ring Disappeared—and Reappeared—in St. George

Picture this, if you will: a seemingly ordinary afternoon in St. George, Utah, suddenly punctuated by a dash of audacious crime. A man, later identified as Brian Dean Taylor, 58, walked into a Kohl’s department store, ostensibly just another shopper browsing the wares. But his intentions, well, they were anything but casual.

What unfolded next was, frankly, a bold move. Taylor reportedly approached the jewelry counter, requesting to see a rather significant piece — a dazzling 2-carat diamond ring, no less. He slipped it onto his finger, admired it perhaps, and then, in a blink, he was off. A sprint, really, out of the store, leaving behind a stunned employee and an empty display where a $16,000 sparkler had just been.

Now, you might think a getaway like that would buy someone some time, maybe even a clean escape, but St. George police, for once, were not about to let this one slide. The call came in swiftly, officers responding with a focused intensity. They had a description, naturally, and a clear understanding of what had just been lost.

And so, the search began, moving beyond the immediate confines of the department store. It wasn’t long, thankfully, before their diligent efforts paid off. Just a stone’s throw away, at the St. George Inn and Suites, officers located Taylor. It's often the simplest of clues that lead to a break, isn't it?

Upon his apprehension, police discovered not only the purloined diamond ring—that shimmering, ill-gotten treasure—but also, quite unexpectedly, a "white crystalline substance" in his possession. Suspected methamphetamine, they said. So, what started as a grand theft quickly spiraled into something more complicated, something that now involved drug charges as well.

Brian Dean Taylor was, of course, taken into custody. He now faces a felony theft charge for the audacious diamond snatch, alongside that misdemeanor drug possession count. He’s being held without bail, a testament, perhaps, to the severity of his alleged actions, at the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

It just goes to show, doesn’t it? Sometimes, even the most daring of schemes, the ones you might imagine in a movie, come to an incredibly swift and rather unglamorous end, all thanks to some keen-eyed police work and, well, a dash of human imperfection.