Charges: Man stole jewelry while owner was in jail - Pierce County Herald
HUDSON -- St. Croix County prosecutors allege a Hudson man made off with thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry and a pickup truck belonging to a man who was in jail at the time.
The alleged victim told St. Croix County sheriff’s deputies in July that he returned home from serving a sentence in Stearns County, Minn., to find more than $10,000 worth of jewelry and a truck — passed on to him by his late mother — missing.
According to a criminal complaint, the man said he had allowed his roommate, identified as 55-year-old Michael Z. Bodnarchek, to stay at his Old Highway 35 home while he was serving time.
St. Croix County prosecutors charged Bodnarchek on Sept. 27 with one count of felony theft.
According to the complaint:
The complainant said he returned home to find the jewelry missing and new license plates on the truck. He told deputies “the only reason the truck was still at the home was because he believed that Michael Bodnarchek thought (he) was going to be serving 75 days and was released after only serving 38 days.”
The complainant told deputies the jewelry had been appraised in the past for close to $50,000, though he didn’t produce any appraisal documents. However, he did turn over receipts made out to Bodnarchek in June for jewelry sold by him to a man indicating Bodnarchek received $5,500 in cash and was due another $5,785. The receipt listed a transaction involving 426 grams of gold.
The complainant, 41-year-old George T. Smith III, was arrested by deputies during the investigation on an outstanding criminal traffic warrant.
Investigators spoke on July 25 with Bodnarchek, who said he had been abusing prescription medication at the time of the incident and admitted to taking Smith’s jewelry.
Bodnarchek told investigators he sold it to a man. The pickup had its title transferred to Bodnarchek, but he said “he had a foggy memory” of how that came to pass. He admitted to taking the truck in for repairs at a Hudson auto garage.
Investigators spoke with workers at Gold Guys in Woodbury, Minn., where they learned Smith had taken “a large amount of jewelry consisting of chains, rings, charms and pendants” in for an estimate in May. The weight of the jewelry was about the same as the 426 grams listed in the receipt made out to Bodnarchek. The Gold Guys worker said they would have paid Smith about $11,000 for the jewelry, though he did not sell it.
Investigators later recovered 133 grams of gold from Bodnarchek’s buyer, who also turned over a diamond ring.
No court date has been set yet in the case.
