An electrical contractor ‘s employee was arrested after he allegedly stole a pair of rings worth $13,500 from a Villager’s bedroom.
The theft of the rings was discovered Tuesday by a woman living on India Hook Terrace in the Village of Duval. The rings had been stored in a free-standing cabinet in the master bedroom of the woman’s home, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
She had workmen from Integrity Electrical Contracting adding an electrical circuit to the lanai of her home. This required them to have access to the master bedroom and she believed that they might have been involved in the theft, the report indicated.
The woman confronted the workers who were still on the job at her home, but they denied taking the rings.
A deputy made contact with the owner of Integrity Electrical Contracting who agreed to help with the investigation. The deputy then went Tuesday afternoon to a second job site on Olenda Drive in the Village of Fernandina where the owner and suspect, 47-year-old Michael Allen Evans, were working. The owner agreed to allow the deputy to search his work truck. In the truck the deputy found a Husky tool bag containing a black pouch in which the rings were discovered.
“Alright, you found them,” Evans said, according to the arrest report.
Evans said he stole the two rings in order to illegally purchase pain medications to feed his habit. Evans went on to say he selected the two rings based on the amount of diamonds and weight of gold of each piece.
He was arrested on two felony charges of grand theft and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $4,000 bond.
Evans had a prior criminal record.
Evans had been arrested in November 2014 in Citrus County on a probation violation. Evans had been placed on probation in St. John’s County on a charge of defrauding a financial business.
