A home health nurse who allegedly stole $22,000 in jewelry from a Villager in her care has entered a plea in a criminal case.
Tiffany Megan Mason, 34, of Umatilla, pleaded not guilty this past week in Sumter County Court to a charge of theft. She remains free on $2,000 bond, following her arrest in July.
She had been caring for a woman in the Village of Mallory Square who had fallen and broken her arm, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The woman, who was recovering from surgery, was receiving round-the-clock care through Amanda Senior Care.
The Villager noticed that some jewelry was missing. A second home health aide was doing some sweeping and found the missing jewelry in a pouch under a couch. The Villager said the jewelry had never been placed in a pouch, so she knew something was amiss.
Mason had been working in the Villager’s home since early June. She soon became the prime suspect in the theft of the jewelry which included an engagement ring with a large diamond valued at $7,000, a male Masonic ring valued at $7,000, a female gold oval opal ring valued at $6,000 and other gold rings.
Mason was called in for questioning at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office public safety building at Pinellas Plaza. She initially denied taking the jewelry, but eventually changed her story.
Mason said she had been “going through financial troubles, so she acted on impulse and took the rings,” the report said. She said she pawned some of the rings “to help pay some of her bills.” But she evidently felt remorseful and “got the rings out of pawn about a week later.” She put the rings in a pouch and placed them under a couch in a spare bedroom in the Villager’s home, where the pouch was eventually discovered by Mason’s co-worker.
Mason had been earning about $900 per week and has $20,000 in debt, according to a form she filed in Sumter County Court.
