“I recently had a case where a 67 year old widow was the victim of a burglary. She immediately suspected her son’s care giver. Her son suffers from Cerebral palsy. Several items of jewelry were taken in the burglary. She stated the only things she was really concerned with were her and her husband’s wedding bands. She stated the rings were purchased in the 70’s at a cost of approximately $900 for hers and $750 for his. She stated she did have the rings appraised several years ago and the values were $5,000 and $3,800. A quick and easy check of LeadsOnline showed that the subject/care giver involved had been pawning small items at a local pawn shop but nothing related to this case. He had pawned some old coins and broken pieces of jewelry along with a small ring. After talking to the victim again she stated last year she had a full length black mink coat stolen, appraised value $15,000. There was no forced entry and no arrest had ever been made. She then stated that she had recently realized that several of her deceased husband’s old coins were missing. I asked about any broken jewelry and she stated she did notice that several pieces were missing but never reported it. To make a long story short the care giver was arrested, the broken jewelry at the store was recovered and was hers. The subject had not pawned the wedding bands yet as he knew they were very expensive looking and was thinking of keeping them. The wedding bands and other stolen jewelry were recovered. Also the suspect confessed and gave me the pawn shop that the mink coat was taken to. After 1 year in storage the coat was still there and the victim got her coat back too; thank you LeadsOnline.”
Sgt. Daniel Serrano
Westland Police Department
Michigan