A former executive with Tiffany & Co. stole a little blue box bounty from the jeweler's midtown Manhattan headquarters and resold it for more than $1.3 million, federal authorities said Tuesday. 
 
 Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun was arrested Tuesday at her home in Darien, Conn. She was to appear later in the day in federal court in Manhattan to face charges of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. 
 
 As vice president of product development, Lederhaas-Okun had authority to "check out" jewelry from Tiffany to provide to potential manufacturers to determine production costs. Authorities allege that after she left Tiffany in February, the company discovered she had checked out 164 items that were never returned. 
 
 According to a criminal complaint, the missing jewelry included numerous diamond bracelets in 18-carat gold, diamond drop and hoop earrings in platinum or 18-carat gold, diamond rings in platinum, rings with precious stones in 18-carat gold, and platinum and diamond pendants. 
 
 When confronted about the missing jewelry, Lederhaas-Okun claimed that she had left some of it behind at Tiffany and that some had been lost or damaged, the complaint said. But an investigation found that Lederhaas-Okun resold the goods to an unidentified international dealer for more than $1.3 million, it said. 
 
 Bank records showed that since January 2011, the dealer wrote 75 checks to her or her husband for amounts of up to $47,400, the complaint said. Investigators also recovered purchase forms signed by Lederhaas-Okun that said the items were her personal property. 
 
 Authorities allege Lederhaas-Okun purposely checked out items valued at under $10,000 apiece to avoid detection. The company takes a daily inventory of all checked-out items worth more than $25,000. 
 
 If convicted, Lederhaas-Okun faces up to 20 years in prison. The name of her attorney wasn't immediately available. 
 
 Tiffany representatives declined to comment Tuesday. 

 A former Tiffany exec was busted by the feds this morning in the theft of more than $1 million worth of bling from the famed jewelry company. 
 
 Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, who oversaw product development for the blue box bauble business, allegedly resold the valuable trinkets to an unidentified Midtown jewelry company and concocted a series of stories to account for the loss. 
 
 The loot included more than 165 pieces, including “numerous diamond bracelets, platinum or gold diamond drop and hoop earrings, platinum diamond rings, and platinum and diamond pendants,” according to the feds. 
 
 Lederhaas-Okun, 46, was nabbed by the FBI this morning at her home in ritzy Darien, Conn., and charged with wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. 
 
 The charges carry a maximum punishment of 30 years in the slammer. 
 
 “As alleged, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun went from a vice president at a high-end jewelry company to jewel thief,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said. 
 
 “Her arrest shows that no matter how privileged their position in a company, employees who steal will face the full consequences of the law.” 
 
 According to a profile posted on linkedin.com, Lederhaas-Okun started working at Tiffany as an assistant buyer in 1991 and rose through the ranks over the following years. 
 
 She was canned in February “as part of an overall downsizing at the jewelry company,” according to court papers. 
 
 A Tiffany spokeswoman said: “In deference to the US Attorney’s investigation, we are not in a position to comment at this time.” 
 
 Lederhaas-Okun is due in court later today.
– It's not the kind of jewelry heist screenwriters dream about, but this alleged plot seems to have gotten the job done: A former executive at Tiffany's is accused of taking 165 pieces of jewelry, pretty much one piece at a time, and then reselling them to an international dealer for about $1.3 million, reports AP. Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun had access to the loot as part of her job as VP in charge of product development. An investigation found that she checked out from storage everything from diamond bracelets to precious stones to gold earrings, items that somehow never found their way back to the company. Her excuses about things getting lost or damaged didn't stand up to scrutiny, especially when authorities found 75 hefty checks written by the unidentified dealer to her or her husband. (The New York Post says the dealer is a company in Midtown Manhattan.) The 46-year-old suspect, who lost her job at Tiffany's during downsizing in February, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.