Racine man accused of pawning stolen jewelry, but where did he get it from?
RACINE (WITI) -- 19-year-old Andrew Casper of Racine has been charged in a case in which he is accused of pawning stolen property.
Casper faces one count of receiving stolen property (greater than $10,000) as party to a crime.
Casper has previous convictions from 2012, including first-offense OWI, criminal damage to property and bail jumping, and possession of synthetic marijuana.
A criminal complaint against Casper says Caledonia police on April 15th responded to a home on Newman Road -- where they spoke with a woman who reported her diamond wedding ring and engagement band were missing from her jewelry box.
The woman told police she further discovered several items of jewelry missing from her home.
The complaint says the woman made a list of the items missing from her home, which included numerous pieces of jewelry, an iPod Touch and $610 in currency.
The total loss of items taken was $25,309 -- according to the complaint.
The woman told police she believed the items were stolen by her babysitter, and the woman and police met with the babysitter at the Caledonia Police Department on April 19th.
The complaint says the woman who noticed the jewelry and other items missing went to the mother of her babysitter -- and was able to recover a Ziploc bag full of jewelry from the babysitter.
The babysitter told police she had stolen the items in order to obtain money for her boyfriend, according to the complaint.
The babysitter told police she took jewelry from the woman's home on Newman Road and gave it to Casper and another man, who took the jewelry and pawned it. The babysitter reported taking the jewelry over a long period of time, according to the complaint.
The complaint says the babysitter looked over a list of items the woman reported stolen -- and said "if the item is listed, she probably had taken it."
The babysitter reported taking the items only when she was babysitting at the home on Newman Road, according to the complaint.
Police interviewed the second man the babysitter reported giving the stolen items to to pawn.
That man told police he witnessed the babysitter give Casper a grocery bag filled with jewelry. The man told police the babysitter asked Casper to pawn the items at Regency Mall because she didn't have time -- and had to go babysit, according to the complaint.
The complaint says the man told police he witnessed Casper pawning the items -- and saw "a large pile of jewelry on the counter" when Casper was making the transaction.
Police were able to obtain records from the pawning transaction, with Casper's driver's license attached.
The total dollar amount of the stolen items that were recovered is $19,100, according to the complaint.
The items included rings, a diamond tennis bracelet valued at $5,000, a diamond wedding ring, an anniversary band and other expensive jewelry items -- according to the complaint.
If convicted of the felony charge against him, Casper faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, and/or a maximum of $25,000 in fines.