Judge Rejects Last Charges in Alleged Theft of Ruby : Courts: A bizarre case concerning a rare Burmese stone closes. The last of five jewelry dealers is released.

Closing a case that featured many setbacks for prosecutors, a judge dismissed charges Friday against the only remaining defendant accused in the alleged theft of a rare, 6.76-carat ruby.

The ruling by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz freed the last of five jewelry dealers arrested in Encino last summer by the Los Angeles Police Department.

At issue was the alleged theft of a jewel known as “the Mona Lisa of rubies,” a Burmese stone the size of a small marble and reportedly worth up to $1 million.

Stoltz granted a motion Friday brought on behalf of Rasekh Uddin Siddiqui to toss out a felony charge of receiving stolen property. The ruling came as prosecutors sought a new trial after a jury deadlocked in April.

“I’m unhappy with the decision,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Eduards R. Abele. “We wanted to retry the case. The evidence against defendant Siddiqui was strong. Eight out of 10 jurors in the first trial thought he was guilty.”

Defense attorney Donald E. Levinson, who made the motion on behalf of the 46-year-old Siddiqui, was not available for comment. Siddiqui previously said he left Southern California as a result of his arrest and is currently in the rug business in Knoxville, Tenn.

Two weeks ago, Stoltz tossed out charges against the only man found guilty of stealing the ruby after determining that the three-year statute of limitations had expired before charges were filed. Ali Reza Paravar, a 42-year-old Woodland Hills man who had been convicted of grand theft, was facing up to five years in prison when the judge dismissed his case.

Abele could have tried Siddiqui a second time on charges of receiving stolen property because prosecutors said that crime occurred less than one year ago.

During the course of the trial for Siddiqui and Paravar, the jury acquitted a third man on charges of receiving stolen property, and Stoltz dismissed the same charges against a fourth defendant. During a hearing last year, a Municipal Court judge ruled there was insufficient evidence against a fifth defendant to put him on trial.

The convoluted case began Sept. 12, 1990, when downtown jewelry merchant Peter Morlock gave the ruby to jewelry broker Ron Levi on consignment. Levi then gave the ruby to Paravar, who two weeks later refused to return it to Morlock because Levi allegedly owed him $400,000.

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Morlock took the matter to the Los Angeles Police Department, which initially refused to make any arrests, and Paravar held on to the stone for most of the next three years.

Morlock again went to police on July 16, 1993, and in a sting operation hours later, the five men were arrested. The ruby was found in Paravar’s pocket.

Authorities alleged Paravar and the other men were involved in a scheme to extort $360,000 from Morlock in exchange for the ruby.

From the beginning of the case, dubbed by courthouse workers “The Great Ruby Caper,” the defendants all maintained they were involved in a business dispute in which Levi was the real culprit.