It’s a happy ending for Village of Charlotte resident Chris Pusch with the return of her stolen rings.
Thanks to Robert Gooden, owner of Integrity Electrical Contracting, the jewelry has been recovered and is now back with its rightful owner. A former employee of the contractor was accused of stealing the rings and pawning them for drug money. You can read that story HERE
Pusch was grateful to Gooden and said he was wonderful to help out with getting her rings back.
” I am just thankful we got our rings back in time. It was wonderful of Robert to help us out like he did. He is a victim, too,” Pusch said.
Evans appeared to be friendly and even sat in the grass on the front lawn and played with her dogs.
“I left him alone for less than two minutes and that’s all the time he needed I guess,” she said of Evans who is accused of stealing the rings from her bedroom.
Jerry Pusch, Chris’ husband, had his rings stolen as well.
“They were in a small jewelry case. He actually took the time to open the case and pick out the ones that were gold, leaving the white gold behind,” she said.
Gold Exchange in Ocala was where the couple’s jewelry was pawned. Evans got $500 for the rings that were valued at over $13,500.
“We paid $600 to get them back and Robert from Integrity gave us a check for that amount. He’s a good guy,” she said.
The expensive rings were being held by Gold Exchange as salvage.
“If we would have been 3 days later finding them, they would have been melted down,” Pusch said.
Sumter Co sheriff’s deputies tracked down the rings.
Integrity Electric owner Robert Gooden was more than happy to reimburse Pusch for the rings.
“I needed to do something for her. This has been a terrible ordeal for me as well,” he said. “I value all my customers, especially my Village’s customers. They have been very supportive and kept me going through all this.”
Gooden said he has been in business for 17 years and nothing like this has ever happened to him.
“Mike got under my radar. I guess at the end of the day, you never know what’s in people’s hearts,” Goodon said he is bonded now.
Sometimes confused with insurance, bonding helps ensure that the job contractors have been hired to do is performed and that the customer is protected against losses from theft or damage done by employees.
“I felt bad for Mrs. Pusch and I wanted to do something to make up for the hurt one of my employees caused her,” he said.”I am not a wealthy man but I wanted to make things right.”
Gooden said when Evans is sentenced on July 11, he hopes the judge will order him to pay restitution to the victims.
The Pusch’s said they would not hesitate to hire Integrity again. “Most of the people in the area are honest, good folks. It only takes one bad apple to cause a problem. Robert is a good guy. We would welcome him back.”
