Cash-For-Gold Employee Charged In Alleged Plot to Murder Competitor
Posted August 5, 2010 5:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto jeweller Jack Berkovits says when he was first told a rival in the cash-for-gold business allegedly hired someone to kill him, he thought it was a joke.
Berkovits, the owner of Omni Jewelcrafters, says two weeks ago a man posing as a customer told him he had been hired to kill him, but he couldn’t do it after meeting Berkovits.
Berkovits went to police and a 71-year-old employee of competitor the Jewellery Buyer has since been charged.
Maria Konstan faces five charges and her case is due to return to court on Aug. 20.
Berkovits says competition between his store and the Jewellery Buyer across the street has become heated in recent months.
Harold Gerstel, also known from his pervasive commercials as Harold The Jewellery Buyer, has not been charged in the case and did not immediately return a request for comment.
