A Navarre woman was arrested last week for stealing jewelry from her mother-in-law, which she later pawned for money.
The suspect, Melody Harvell, 49, was arrested and charged with Fraud, Theft from person 65 years of age or older, and Dealing in Stolen Property following an investigation by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
According to Harvell’s arrest report, the suspect’s mother-in-law, called the SRSO reporting that some jewelry was missing from her home. The victim claimed that her daughter-in-law, Melody, was the only person who knew where the jewelry was hidden inside of the home.
Among the missing jewelry was an opal ring, an opal pendant and a small gold diamond cluster ring.
The victim told the deputy that the total for all of the missing pieces was a little over $7,000.
When deputies spoke with Harvell following the allegations by her mother-in-law, Harvell told law enforcement that she only pawned jewelry that she owned, and denied pawning her mother-in-law’s jewelry. Harvell told authorities that she had never taken any property from the victim, according to the report.
Deputies later tracked three of the pieces of jewelry, which had been pawned off at two pawn establishments in the south end of the county.
On all of the pawn tickets, Harvell signed a consent where she agreed that the items belonged to her.
Other items that were taken from the victim were later discovered to have been sold to pawn shops in Escambia and Okaloosa counties.
Harvell was later booked into Santa Rosa County Jail last Friday and given $5,000 bond. Harvell remains behind bars as of press time.
Harvell has had no prior arrests in Santa Rosa County according to the Santa Rosa County Jail View website.
