When the police contacted Jonathan Duhamel to tell him that they had finally recovered his missing 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship bracelet they probably started the conversation with the adage, “We have GOOD news and BAD news.”

The bracelet was stolen along with over $100k in cash and a Rolex Submariner watch in a home invasion that occurred just days before Christmas –orchestrated by an ex-girlfriend of Duhamel’s—and even though all of the culprits are in custody, the 2010 WSOP Championship bracelet was never recovered. However, on Friday, a French online poker portal, PrincePoker.com, stated that police have now recovered the bracelet after a street sweeper in Montreal found the “remains” of the bracelet.

Judging by the pictures of the badly damaged bracelet, it appears that the thieves knew they were dealing with an easily traceable one-of-a-kind item and after attempts to erase Duhamel’s name (failed attempts) they apparently were content to simply remove the gold links and tossed aside the faceplate.

Even though the bracelet appears to have been treated worse than Duhamel during the robbery, Duhamel’s manager, Philippe Jette, told Canada’s TVA Nouvelles, “The sentimental value [of the bracelet] is priceless. We are giving the bracelet to the police, because it is still a piece of evidence, and should help the police with the investigation. We are happy, and Jonathan is doing very well.”

It’s unclear whether the thieves did the damage in trying to pry away pieces of the bracelet that could be sold off in an untraceable way, or if the damage was done when the bracelet found its way into a street cleaning machine (you can check out the pictures of the damaged prize HERE).

According to the report at PrincePoker.com, a street sweeper found the bracelet after unclogging the machine he was using to clean the Ville-Marie Tunnel in Montreal last Wednesday.

The robbery occurred in the morning hours at Duhamel’s home just outside of Montreal, Quebec, when a man posing as a delivery driver forced his way into Duhamel’s home along with another assailant. The pair beat and tied-up the 2010 WSOP Champion, demanded access to his safe (which they somehow knew he had), and stole the two items and cash. Police apprehended not only the two assailants, but also the ex-girlfriend of Duhamel who master-minded the heist. All three have appeared in court for a bail hearing with only one of the three receiving bail from the judge.

Duhamel’s ex-girlfriend, Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, as well as John-Stephen Clark-Lemay, were denied bail, while Anthony Bourque had his bail set with a number of stipulations set forth by the judge overseeing the hearing.

Duhamel has apparently moved on with his life, having cashed for well over $1 million in 2012 thus far, and leading two Player of the Year races: BLUFF Magazine and the Global Poker Index.

Tags: 100k, Adage, Bad News, Cleaning Machine, Culprits, Days Before Christmas, Ex Girlfriend, Home Invasion, Jette, Online Poker, Poker Main Event, Robbery, Rolex, Sentimental Value, Street Sweeper, Thieves, world series, World Series of Poker, World Series of Poker Main Event, WSOP

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 18th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.