Dapper College Professor Arrested and Charged with Being High Class Jewelry Thief

Retired professor John Gray had already been accused in a high-profile case in Rhode Island of stealing expensive jewelry from the late socialite Jacqueline Quillen and her friends.

Now, using the prestigious Doyle Auctioneers and Appraisers on the UES, the Manhattan district attorney has hit him with new charges claiming he fenced at least seven pieces of expensive piece of jewelry stolen in New York, Virginia and other states from 2016 to 2018 that netted him $45,000. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Aug. 15 but declined to talk to reporters afterward.

Gray is a former Fulbright scholar who taught political science at John Cabot University in Rome and Italy. He and Quillen had been lovers and companions for 15 years. Toward the end of her life, she became suspicious that he was stealing jewelry, paintings and other items from her home and those of her friends began keeping meticulous records.

She is an heiress who had been head of Christie’s North American wine department. According to one early report in the digital publication Airmail in 2021, before she died she had claimed he stole up to one million dollars worth of jewelry, paintings and other goods and resold them. After her death in Oct. 1, 2020, at her home in East Hampton, NY, her son Parker Quillen filed a lawsuit which claimed jewelry and other expensive items went missing on at least nine occasions where she and Gray and stayed in homes belonging to her friends. That lawsuit has reportedly been settled. But the criminal charges in Rhode Island, which were also filed in 2021 are still pending. Gray pleaded not guilty in that case. Many of the items were reportedly pilfered from the homes of East Coast elites in Georgetown to Newport, RI.

Among the seven items stolen and allegedly sold in the New York case are multiple pieces of Buccellati jewelry, including: a gold, silver, and diamond pendant brooch; a pair of silver, gold, and diamond pendant earrings and a Cabochon ruby and diamond compact. Prosecutors claim other pieces include: a verdure platinum, diamond and sapphire brooch, a pair of Oscar Heyman Brothers sapphire, emerald and diamond ear clips; a Van Cleef & Arpels gold, cabochon ruby and diamond ring and a 19th century English pocket watch.

He is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count of scheme to defraud, criminal possession of stolen property and one count of grand larceny.

“The defendant allegedly repeatedly sold stolen jewelry in order to enrich himself,” said District Attorney Bragg. “New York’s status as a global hub for auction houses is diminished when goods are illegally sold. We will continue to ensure that all transactions in the marketplace–regardless of item–are done fairly and in accordance with the law.”

Assistant D.A. Bradley Barbour is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of ADA. Matthew Bogdanos (Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Division) and Lisa Delpizzo (Chief of the Trial Division). Antiquities Trafficking Analyst Alyssa Thiel is also assisting with the investigation and prosecution. Bragg thanked New York City Detective Joseph Metsopulos.

Gray’s Washington D.C.-based attorney, Christopher Zampogna, said his client “has many defenses to offer,” including that “none of the alleged thefts took place in New York.” Doyle Auctioneer, however, is based on the Upper East Side. A spokesperson there declined to comment on the stolen property that Gray is alleged to have sold thrhough their auction house, citing “respect from the privacy” of its clients.

Zampogna also argued that the ownership of any of the items “has yet to be established and he never possessed any of the alleged stolen goods.” He said he was going to hire a local counsel in New York.