The owner of a Long Island housekeeping service has been busted for cleaning out a customer’s jewelry box of $99,000 in baubles, police said.
It was not the first time the cleaning crook had vacuumed up valuables while tidying up, said police – who suspect he may have victimized other clients.
Sean McCabe, of Lindenhurst, was arrested Sunday for grand larceny and possession of stolen property, said Suffolk Detective Lt. Lawrence Boyle.
While McCabe and a male partner identified only as Joe were cleaning, the woman homeowner in exclusive Dix Hills had noticed that “a small amount of cash was missing,” Boyle said. “She confronted him about it and she fired him.”
After they were gone, she checked her jewelry box and discovered that her valuables were missing and called police.
Some of the pieces “were family heirlooms that had been passed down to her,” said Boyle. Detectives investigated and located a diamond engagement ring and about half of the stolen pieces at a pawn shop.
They also learned that Boyle “had pawned quite a few items [of jewelry] to different pawn shops,” over the past few years, said Boyle – 10 different sales in all.
The sales of jewelry could represent as many as 10 other thefts, said Boyle, who asked anyone with information about McCabe to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 220-TIPS.