HOUSTON – A woman is accused of stealing $50,000 worth of jewelry from her employer, then having it pawned for cash.
Rebecca Maria Castaneda, 33, has been charged with theft.
According to court documents, Castaneda had been employed as a private duty nurse for a woman since 2006. Investigators with the Houston Police Department say she stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from her patient, then collected money after it was pawned.
Castaneda allegedly convinced another woman, Silvia Cordova, to pawn the items for her because Castaneda said she did not have any legal identification. She told Cordova she would not be suspected of the thefts since she had worked for the family for so long, investigators said.
Family members realized the jewelry was missing from the safe and an investigation was launched.
Some of the jewelry was located at a pawn shop in the 14300 block of the North Freeway. Investigators recovered a tennis bracelet with 18 round diamonds and 18 round green emeralds, and one 18-karat LDS gold watch with bracelet band valued at $10,000. The pawn slips were listed in Cordova's name.
When Cordova was tracked down, she told police she had not worked alone, saying Castaneda was the person who stole the jewelry. Cordova admitted to pawning the items, but said she handed all of the money over to Castaneda, according to documents.
Investigators called Castaneda and told them Cordova had been arrested, and named her as an accomplice. They told Castaneda they would obtain a search warrant for her home to try and locate the remaining jewelry, but Castaneda said that was not needed and confessed to having the missing pieces.
Police went to Castaneda's home, where they found two jewelry bags. One bag contained a pearl necklace, a large diamond wedding ring and one matching copper tone necklace and bracelet set.
The second bag contained a three-strand pearl necklace and diamond watch.
Investigators emailed the owner's family pictures of the jewelry, which they positively identified. The jewelry Castaneda had in her possession was valued at $38,200.
Castaneda was arrested and her bail was set at $5,000.