John Acheson, 31, of the New York City suburb of New Rochelle, has been charged with attempted grand larceny, attempted grand larceny by extortion and attempted coercion for allegedly demanding $25,000 from Lil' Kim to return a missing necklace from her luggage at John F. Kennedy Airport, reports the Associated Press.
Acheson was being held Monday pending arraignment and was not available for comment, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, according to the AP. If convicted of the charges at hand, there could be a prison sentence of four years, says the news service. (It's not yet been reported if Acheson is an employee at JFK.)
As PEOPLE.com reported Monday, based on coverage by New York's Daily News (which first broke the story), an airport employee discovered the rapper's missing treasure wrapped in a rag atop a row of maintenance workers and baggage handlers' lockers in a United Airlines employee area in Terminal 7 at about 6 a.m. last Thursday.
Police had speculated that because news was out that the jewels were missing, they just became too hot to handle. Literally.
The whole episode began when Kim (real name: Kimberly Jones), 27, was on her way to Los Angeles on June 20 for last Tuesday's Black Entertainment Television Awards. But a mistake during check-in caused her Louis Vuitton bag with the jewels - which, according to the Associated Press, included her signature "Queen Bee" necklace and platinum dog tags made of yellow diamonds - to be mixed up with eight other pieces of Lil' Kim's luggage.
Once Kim realized what had occurred, the flight was delayed and the prized bag became the subject of a search. The bag was retrieved, but some pieces of jewelry were missing and the case looked "tampered with," her attorney, Mel Sachs, told the Daily News.
Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority, said Lil' Kim "filed a report for lost jewelry, and the incident is under investigation by the Port Authority police." He also commended her "for acting responsibly and being patient."
Meanwhile, the 4'11" Brooklyn-born diva was not be deterred and did perform at the BET Awards, although less decorated than usual.
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