International jewel thief is busted stealing $300,000 worth of rings from Cartier and Tiffany stores in Manhattan

An international jewel thief was finally caught in New York after stealing $300,000 worth of rings from Cartier and Tiffany stores.

Yaorong Wan, 49, has open arrest warrants out of Long Island and New Jersey, a Red Notice from Interpol and is wanted in South Korea for stealing from high-end jewelry stores.

He was arrested by New York City police on Friday after he was caught stealing from at least two jewelry stores across the Big Apple.

Wan is accused of swiping a ring worth a quarter-million dollars from a Tiffany & Co in Rockefeller Center and another ring from a Cartier in Hudson Yards in March.

The accused jewel thief entered the Tiffany's on Fifth Ave. on March 4 and inquired about multiple pieces of jewelry, including the $255,000 ring, according the criminal complaint viewed by DailyMail.com.

Yaorong Wan, 49, is accused for stealing a ring worth $255,000 from the Tiffany & Co at Rockefeller Center (pictured)

An employee allowed him to hold the pieces, but Wan allegedly duped them by handing back a counterfeit ring.

It wasn't until a week later during an inventory check the Tiffany employees discovered the diamond ring was replaced with a cubic zirconia stone and 18 carat white gold mounting.

'The genuine Tiffany ring contained a natural diamond mounted in platinum. Furthermore, the genuine ring contained engraving, hallmarking, a unique SKU number, all of which were not present on the counterfeit ring,' the criminal complaint said.

On March 12, Wan entered the Cartier store at 20 Hudson Yards and inquired about multiple pieces of jewelry, including two engagement rings and two watches.

'While [the Cartier employee] was distracted, [Wan] handed back one of the diamond rings to [the Cartier employee], but kept the second diamond ring in his hand, placed that ring in his pocket, and left the store a short time later without paying for the ring and without permission or authority to take the ring,' said the criminal complaint.

Wan is also accused of stealing a ring with $25,000 from the Cartier in Hudson Yards (pictured)

Police said surveillance footage showed Wan concealed the $25,000 diamond ring in his hand then placed it in his pocket and left the store. 

Wan has also been identified as the prime suspect in a series of thefts from Cartier stores in California and Miami, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

When he was arrested, Wan gave police fake documents that identified him with a different name, Wen San. 

He was charged with two counts of grand larceny, which are not bail eligible, and is on supervised release. Wan's next Manhattan court date is scheduled for May 14.

In Nassau County, he was charged with grand larceny on Sunday and held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond.