Housekeeper charged in theft of elderly woman's jewelry

SNELLVILLE, Ga. — An elderly Snellville woman says her precious memories were sold and melted down after police said they arrested a housekeeper who stole jewelry from her.

Vergene Magill, 83, said a woman she trusted took advantage of her.

"This was mine and I resent it and I'm furious about it," Magill told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh.

Magill said she hired Wanda Foster, 53, of Loganville, to clean up around her Snellville home. Instead, Magill said Foster cleaned her out of jewelry.

"I was going to wear the heart. And I usually keep it in a little brown jewelry bag and it wasn't there," Magill said.

Magill said she noticed other missing pieces such as the gold heart, including an amber and diamond pendant, and gold chains. Magill said they were all gifts from her husband who died last year.

"I'm not into how much it cost or anything, but the gifts were my husband's and I just lost him," Magill said.

She said she suspected her housekeeper because so few people are ever in her home.

Snellville police searched the databases kept by pawn shops and gold shops. They discovered photos of items matching Magill's description, including a gold elephant pendant.

Police said they traced the items back to a Snellville gold shop on East Main Street. The 30-day waiting period had lapsed and Magill's pieces had already been melted down.

But they still had a record of who sold them.

"She has to give her name, has to give all the information, has to give and ID," said Capt. Harold Thomas with the Snellville Police Department.

Police said the ID belonged to Foster and they charged her with misdemeanor theft by taking and elder abuse, a felony. She has since bonded out of jail.

Kavanaugh found Foster Tuesday at her Loganville apartment.

"I didn't do it," Foster said.

Foster told Kavanaugh she didn't steal anything. She said she went to the gold shop to sell some of her own pieces. She also claimed Magill had given her some of the jewelry as gifts.

"She gave me some stuff. That's all I got to say," Foster said. Because Foster bonded out of jail, there is currently no court date set.

WSBTV