STUART – A Treasure Coast Hospice employee was arrested on Aug. 31 after she allegedly stole two rings from a patient and pawned one of them, according to a Stuart Police Facebook posting.
On Aug. 18, Stuart Police received a report that two rings belonging to a Hospice patient disappeared shortly before the woman passed away, according to the Facebook posting.
Det. David Jacobson searched pawn transaction records and discovered that Hospice employee Latoya Morrine Moye, 38, of Fort Pierce, pawned a diamond ring in Port St. Lucie just one day after it was discovered missing, according to the Facebook posting.
The ring was located, and the victim’s family positively identified it as one of the missing rings. Pawn records and surveillance video confirmed Moye conducted the transaction, according to the Facebook posting.
The second ring remains missing.
Probable cause was established to charge Moye with third-degree grand theft, and an arrest warrant was issued.
Moye was booked into the St. Lucie County Jail on Aug. 31, according to the jail website.
The Hospice facility, which cooperated with Stuart Police throughout the investigation, is covering the cost of retrieving the ring from the pawn shop so it can be returned to the family, according to the Facebook posting.