Gerald Blanchard

Gerald Daniel Blanchard is a Canadian criminal who orchestrated robberies at financial institutions in Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia. He was described by the police as one of the most sophisticated criminal masterminds.

In 1998, he stole the Star of Empress Sisi, a diamond-and-pearl piece of jewelry that belonged to a former empress of Austria, from the Castle Schonbrunn in Vienna, Austria. Accompanied by his wife and father-in-law posing as tourists, Blanchard disabled the alarm and replaced the jewel with a replica purchased at the souvenir shop. It took more than a month before the swap was discovered. The loss of a priceless part of Austria’s history remained unsolved until Blanchard led police to its location in his grandmother's basement.

In November 2007, he pled guilty to sixteen charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison in a Winnipeg court for his involvement in robberies and fraud schemes in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Blanchard faced a maximum of 160 years in prison for the sixteen charges to which he pleaded guilty.

References

* [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/11/07/blanchard-charges.html "High-tech crook gets 8 years for string of thefts, frauds".] CBC News, November 7, 2007. Accessed September 15, 2008
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2943269.ece "Ocean's 11 conman and a royal heist."] The Times, November 26, 2007. Accessed September 15, 2008