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Ex-Diavik employee to be sentenced in new year for theft of diamonds

A former Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. employee who pleaded guilty to stealing rough stones worth thousands of dollars will be sentenced in the new year.

Samson Mkhitaryan, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of theft over $5,000 last month.

Mkhitaryan, an ex-employee at the Diavik diamond sorting plant located near the Yellowknife airport, was charged in March after RCMP were alerted to the suspected theft of uncut diamonds from the facility.

An investigation was launched and Mounties were shown surveillance footage of a man, alleged to be Mkhitaryan – who worked as a sorter – pocketing pricey stones while on the job, according to public RCMP search warrant documents.

The same documents, which haven't yet been tested in court – detail a search of Mkhitaryan's residence, where Mounties allegedly retrieved 29 rough diamonds from his garage.

During a brief court appearance in NWT Supreme Court on Monday, Mkhitaryan's lawyer, Peter Harte, told Justice Shannon Smallwood the defence and the Crown were in the process of finalizing an agreed statement of facts a head of sentencing.

Mkhitaryan will be back in a Yellowknife court on Jan. 28, 2019, for sentencing.