Saturday, February 12, 2011

“Woman accused of jewelry theft - New Orleans Times-Picayune”

“Woman accused of jewelry theft - New Orleans Times-Picayune”


Woman accused of jewelry theft - New Orleans Times-Picayune

Posted:

Wedding ring taken at nursing home

Saturday, February 12, 2011

By Jeff Adelson

St. Tammany bureau

A woman accused of stealing a wedding ring off the finger of a resident at the Slidell nursing home where she worked has been accused of five more counts of theft from residents at the facility, authorities said.

Domenica Thomas, 42, allegedly pawned the stolen jewelry at the same shop where she sold the ring, taken from a resident at Greenbrier Nursing Home, that led to her initial arrest in January, Slidell police Detective Daniel Seuzeneau said. Thomas had worked at the nursing home for about nine months before another employee saw her talking with the resident, who was unable to leave his bed, and family members alerted police to the missing ring, Seuzeneau said.

The investigators working on the case, detectives Brian Brown and Ralph Morel, also found a large stash of jewelry, a stolen handgun, pot and documents related to a "very amateurish group" with possible terrorist sympathies in Pennsylvania, Seuzeneau said.

Some of Thomas' victims have since died, and it is unclear whether she stole from them while they were alive or after their deaths, Seuzeneau said. Police are trying to determine whether any of the other jewelry in the home was taken from Greenbrier residents.

The handgun found in Thomas' home was stolen in Pennsylvania, and police are looking into whether it is connected to any other crimes, Seuzeneau said.

Though the documents found in the home prompted investigators to contact the FBI, Seuzeneau said the group Thomas was alleged to belong to was poorly organized and appeared to have no immediate plans. According to the notes, which were written on loose-leaf paper, the group, which appeared to include former members of the Bloods gang, might have shared some of the beliefs of known terrorist organizations.

Thomas, who recently converted to Islam, appears to be the only member of the group in the Slidell area, he said.

"There didn't appear to have anything of any substance to it, but you don't know what it could have snowballed into," he said.

Thomas was booked into the St. Tammany Parish jail in Covington with five counts of theft of assets from an aged person, two counts of theft by fraud, simple robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and possession of marijuana.

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