A former jewelry store manager in the United Kingdom was sentenced to 28 months in prison after posting selfies wearing stolen merchandise and sending them to her coworkers, Humberside Police said in a statement.
Lucy Roberts, 39, frequently took jewelry home with her during the year she worked at a high-end shop, police said, telling suspicious coworkers she “was conducting work at home and sorting stock for the workshop.” The police statement does not name the store.
It was only when Roberts quit and went on vacation that her colleagues realized where the jewelry went, the statement says. She began sending her former coworkers selfies from a cruise, decked out in items taken from the shop.
“Without a care in the world, dripping in diamonds, thinking she had deceived everybody,” Detective Sgt. Krista Wilkinson said in the police news release.
Police found “thousands of pounds worth of jewelry strewn around in boxes beneath the bed and in cupboards,” after searching her home, the statement says.
In total, Roberts stole more than $170,000 in diamonds, gold, silver, “bespoke jewelry” and cash from her employer, according to Wilkinson.
Police said Roberts initially denied she had stolen any stock from her employer, insisting she had borrowed the some of the jewelry from a coworker and that they planted the other items in her bags, but she later entered a guilty plea for theft by an employee, receiving 28 months in prison.
Roberts was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport, according to police. They took her into custody after finding her “wearing a substantial amount of stolen jewelry” with more pilfered merchandise in her suitcase, according to the statement.
Body camera footage from the arrest shows Roberts removing more jewelry “as she was escorted through Heathrow Airport … in an attempt to dispose of it,” police added.
The store where Roberts formerly worked said it is “pleased to finally have closure on the matter after several years,” according to the news release.
