A Hispanic home repairman has been charged with felony theft after he tried to hide the evidence by gulping it down, presumably without chewing first

Prosecutors say that 30-year-old Wilfredo Gonzalez was helping remodel a home in Cicero, Illinois, when he stole a diamond ring that the homeowner had left in her bathroom. When she realized the ring was missing, the homeowner had her husband confront Gonzalez, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. The repairman at first denied taking the ring. But when the confrontation turned into a struggle, prosecutors say that he pulled the ring out of the place he had hidden it and swallowed it. Police were called and took Gonzalez to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, where a stomach X-ray revealed that the missing ring was working its way down his gastrointestinal tract. Gonzalez was given medication to force the expulsion of the ring and was then put in a rubber room with bedpans. Gonzalez appeared at the Maywood Courthouse, where bail was set at $10,000 by Cook County Judge James Shapiro. Gonzalez faces up to three years in prison if convicted.