Police: House Cleaner Stole $6,000 Ring, Pawned It for $1,200

Police accuse an Anoka house cleaner with stilling a diamond ring from a Minnetonka home where she worked, according to charging documents filed last week.

The residents told police on June 5 that a $6,000 diamond ring had been taken from a bedroom cabinet, Officer Markham Stock wrote in the criminal complaint.

Stock got a list of employees who had cleaned the home over the past year. A check of those names against the Automated Property System, which tracks pawn sales, showed that 43-year-old Laura Marie Cowles had pawned a ring with the same description Jan. 5 at the Anoka Pawn America. She received $1,201.50 in return.

Cowles told police she found the ring while emptying her vacuum cleaner bag and decided to pawn it instead of turning it over to her employer.

Prosecutors have charged Cowles with felony theft—which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.