Police: Man stole $211,000 worth of gold from Glen Ellyn jeweler

The former manager of a Glen Ellyn jewelry store has been charged with stealing nearly a quarter of a million dollars' worth of solid gold.

Daniel Knaack, who has a prior conviction for stealing from a jeweler, was being held Thursday in the DuPage County jail on $15,000 bail.

The Glendale Heights man is accused of taking 15 gold bars valued at $211,000 from Costello Jewelry, 474 N. Main St. Police said he was employed as store manager and responsible for moving bars that were melted down from scrap gold into and out of a safe.

The thefts occurred over an undetermined time frame ending in October, according to Glen Ellyn Deputy Police Chief Bill Holmer. He said Knaack, 50, worked there for 12 years.

Police reviewed "a lot" of surveillance footage and interviewed Knaack and other employees during a six-month investigation, Holmer said.

"We're certainly happy to be able to bring about some closure for the owner and we appreciate his cooperation," he said. "No business owner likes to go through something like this."

Investigators believe the gold, which has not been recovered, was sold. Altogether, it would have weighed about 150 ounces, or a little more than nine pounds, police said.

A representative of Costello Jewelry declined to comment Thursday on the advice of authorities.

Court records show Knaack pleaded guilty to felony theft in 1998 for stealing $500 from a jeweler at Yorktown Center mall in Lombard. A year later, he was convicted of obtaining a bogus prescription for codeine by impersonating a doctor, according to court records.

Knaack, of the 1300 block of Oakmont Drive, was charged in the latest case April 16 and arrested on a warrant late last week. He's set to appear June 4 before Judge Daniel Guerin.