Employee Admits Stealing $1.2M in Jewelry
-- JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone, 4/9/2008 7:27:00 PM
A Marietta, Ga., woman is charged with stealing more than $1 million from two jewelry stores where she was an employee, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Sara Lane Tolar, 30, is charged in the theft of $1.2 million in jewelry from a Shane Co. jewelry store in Alpharetta, Ga., and $17,000 from the Capetown Diamond Corp. in nearby Roswell.
Tolar was arrested in late March, the newspaper reports. At that time police were only aware of the Shane Co. allegation. While under custody, Tolar told police that she began working at the Capetown Diamond store about three weeks ago, after being fired from the Shane Co. store.
Capetown Diamond Corp.'s management said they were unaware that anything was missing from its inventory, police told the newspaper.
Tolar faces charges of theft by receiving and theft by deception after allegedly attempting to sell some of the stolen jewelry to a jewelry store in Marietta on Good Friday.
Additional charges from Cobb County may be forthcoming, police told the newspaper.
Tolar remains in the Cobb County jail, the newspaper reports. Alpharetta police, whose jurisdiction is in nearby Fulton County, will present evidence to a grand jury this month.
Tolar apparently worked alone, the newspaper reports.
Tolar worked at the Shane Company for about 18 months, but was fired in February after a store audit, police reportedly said. The company determined that Tolar had been responsible for inventorying all the pieces they believed were stolen She then found a job at Capetown Diamond.
On March 21, a jeweler in Marietta notified Cobb County police that a woman approached him about selling him some jewelry, the newspaper reports. When the woman returned, she was arrested.
A search of her car revealed stolen jewelry worth about $63,000, police reportedly said. It was then the woman confessed and said she was already working at another jewelry store.
Tolar named or described 14 places where she had sold items, the newspaper reports.
Thus far, about 50 pieces have been recovered, police reportedly said, with an estimated value in the six-figure range. Most of the pieces were valued between $2,500 and $15,000.
