She wasn't earning enough money to pay the bills, a 29-year-old Duluth woman told police. So she started stealing necklaces from the jewelry shop where she worked.
Two years and 278 pawnshop transactions later, Ashley Wiskow has been charged with allegedly hocking items with a total retail value of nearly $800,000.
"The defendant acknowledged she became greedy and kept stealing," according to felony theft charges filed in St. Louis County District Court.
Duluth police officer Kristina Schulte was investigating an unrelated burglary case when she found Wiskow had pawned six pieces of jewelry worth $1,479.
Schulte checked Wiskow's Facebook page and learned she worked at Security Jewelers.
The longtime store owner confirmed her employment and recognized the pawned jewelry. Wiskow told police she started taking necklaces from a back hall of the store out of range of security cameras.
Although police estimated the total retail value of the stolen jewelry at $796,884, Wiskow only received $60,171 from the pawnshops.
Police recovered $57,000 worth of jewelry.
