Is a plumber pawning a horde of jewelry?

When I was 8 years old I walked into my dad's office and he handed me a ring. He worked for Jostens at the time and it had been a sample. It was a plain 10K gold class ring with a huge man made sapphire. It resembled a signet ring. I'm 70 now and have worn it on and off on different fingers for over 6 decades. Around the same time my mother gave my a sterling charm bracelet she'd had as a child in the depression. I don't remember wearing it but kept in a box with and a host of other treasures.

My mother also gave me a small pink cameo with a marcasite setting that had been her mothers. It had a delicate chain and I wore it to my first and only piano recital. Years after my parents divorce I tried on my mothers wedding band. I loved it, she said take it. She was tiny and I was big so had to wear it on my pinky. It was from Peacock's in Chicago. It was a platinum band set with 16 small diamonds. Without it's existence I would not have been born. It made me feel connected to my parents.

My jewelry collection grew I matured. I had the odd this and that from other relationships but the gifts from my parents I treasured most. As a teenager my mother had a white stone purchased on a 1961 family trip to the Black Hills put on an 18" white gold box chain. By the time I was 20 my father gifted me a big 14K gold perforated heart on a 24" serpentine chain. At 25 I got diamond stud earrings.  When I was 30 it was an emerald ring surrounded by 2 small diamonds.  

For my fortieth birthday I was given a rectangular pendant with a ruby in the middle surrounded by small diamonds. It was easy to change onto the chain from the gold heart. I wore the gold heart everyday and would upgrade if I went anywhere fancy. When I was 50 I got a 18K Thai Princess ring. It was set with small rubies, sapphires and emeralds in a sort of cone shape, like the helmets Thai dancers wear. It was big and obnoxious and I only wore it one time. It was top heavy and turn around on my finger and cut into my hand.

It's more than family history. These pieces are a part of who I am, or who I was... I kept my jewelry hidden in a built in linen cabinet in the bathroom. In August 2025 a plumber took it all.  I don't know of he was looking for drugs or has a gambling problem.  It's only classified as a property crime but from the emotional pain it is inherently violent. Jewelry is so personal it feels like he took family photos or scraped tattoos off my body. The sentiment is irreplicable.

Plumber thefts are not isolated incidents. Just beware.