Homeless man accused of stealing, pawning jewelry - Gloucester Daily Times
A homeless man is being held in jail on charges that he broke into at least two Gloucester homes and stole jewelry — including three rings worth a total of $5,000 that he pawned for $110.
David J. Lane, 45, identified by police only as homeless from Gloucester, was arraigned Tuesday in Gloucester District Court following his arrest on four counts of larceny of property worth more than $250 and a single count of larceny of over $250 by false pretense.
Lane is being held at Middleton Jail without bail on a prior probation violation, with cash bail set at $500 for the new charges. He is set for a pre-trial hearing Nov. 10 in Gloucester.
According to Detective Thomas Quinn's report, a woman living on Warner Street called to report that someone had been entering her residence and stealing jewelry from her bedroom, and that she suspected a man named David who had been renting a room upstairs from where her brother lives.
On Sept. 14, the woman said she had come home to find a man who turned out to be Lane exiting her apartment, where she had left the door closed but unlocked. She asked Lane what he was doing, and he told her he had come to fill jugs of water, yet he was not holding any jugs
The next day, she called police after she found "several pieces" of jewelry missing from her jewelry box.
Police went to the Gloucester Service Center on Main Street, where Quinn said officers, who knew Lane to be an opioid addict, had observed Lane pawning items there "on a regular basis" for the past month. Quinn said police seized several pieces of jewelry that Lane had pawned Sept. 13 at the shop, which had paid him $110, according to receipts, and for which Lane had provided identification. The woman then met with police and confirmed the diamond, sapphire and platinum rings she reported stolen, with a combined value of $5,000, were among the pawned items. Police also recovered two chains and a pendant belonging to the woman.
While police were investigating those thefts, a man called police to report that he, too, had been a victim of burglary and larceny, with several pieces of jewelry missing from his house on Magnolia Avenue. That family had been on vacation from Sept. 9 through Sept. 16, according to Quinn's report, and heard upon returning of the other theft reports. Family members then checked their jewelry boxes, found several pieces missing and called police.
Quinn showed the family a Gloucester Service Center pawn receipt photo for items pawned by Lane on Aug. 17, for which he was paid $535, and the family identified the items as theirs.
"Unfortunately, everything from this pawn is no longer available at the pawn shop," Quinn wrote, noting that the store owner sells off jewelry when a 30-day holding period expires. The jewelry had been pawned 33 days prior to police discovering the theft, Quinn's report indicated.
Another man, to whom Lane gave additional jewelry, was interviewed by police and acknowledged selling that jewelry through the pawn shop. The man told police he had no idea the jewelry pieces had been stolen, since Lane told him it had been inherited from his grandmother. That man was not being charged as of Wednesday.
Ray Lamont can be reached at 978-675-2705, or rlamont@gloucestertimes.com.
