“Jewelry gone; airline agent imprisoned” |
| Jewelry gone; airline agent imprisoned Posted: 03 Jan 2011 09:58 PM PST Updated: Monday, 03 Jan 2011, 10:29 PM MST ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Misplaced or lost bags at the airport are nothing new. For one woman, though, that cost her up to $800,000, and it cost an airline employee a trip to prison. The Santa Fe woman had a Louis Vuitton bag that she lost sight of at the Sunport in 2005. Someone quickly rolled off with it. It wasn't the expensive bag the woman was worried about, though, but what was inside. There were about 25 pieces of unique handcrafted jewelry. They were made by world-renown designer Luna Felix from Santa Fe. Those items along with a laptop computer and at least one Cartier watch in the suitcase were worth between $500,000 and $800,000. The victim called the Sunport, but nobody had seen the expensive bag or the high-priced items inside. So just days after the theft, the woman hired private investigator Maurice Moya to track down the property. "She said she had gathered up all her jewelry from Chicago and Florida, and she was bringing it to Santa Fe because she had just built a home and wanted to keep it safe there," Moya said. He blanketed gold and silver stores and pawn shops across the county with flyers. Nearly a year after the theft, in January 2006, Albuquerque Aviation Police got a call from Sarasota, Fla. "I get a call from a detective saying we have a bunch of your stolen jewelry," Aviation Police Chief Marshall Katz said. Moya said an appraiser saw the name on the back of the jewelry. "We're lucky we got a hit on one of them," Moya said. A woman sold two necklaces with matching earrings to a gold and silver exchange business for $2,500. They're worth $30,000. Police were on to her when she also sold a $25,000 Cartier watch for $2,000. Sarasota detectives along with aviation police, the FBI and the private investigator tracked Patricia Wood, now 63 years old, to Albuquerque and specifically to the Sunport. In fact, they knew the woman was in the baggage claim area the day of the theft because she was clocked in and working that day. It turns out she worked as an American Airlines agent. Nearly six years after the theft, due to legal wrangling and delays, Wood pleaded guilty to a charge of interstate transporting of stolen property. She turned herself in on Dec. 29 to start serving five months in federal prison. She will also have to pay a $3,000 fine, and the court ordered her to pay the gold and silver shop in Florida $2,500. But there's only one thing the victim wants in this case, and it's not prison time. "She would like to have the lady give her back the rest of her jewelry," Moya said. There are still about two dozen pieces still missing. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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