TACOMA, Wash. — A wedding ring stolen more than two years ago is back in the hands of its owner after a Tacoma family saw a KIRO 7 report about thousands of dollars in unclaimed jewelry.
"It's feels wonderful, feels wonderful. I'm very happy," Patty McNeal said smiling after she was handed the ring by Lakewood police detective Russ Martin.
The ring was stolen by Norman Solomon and two accomplices during a 10-month burglary binge in 2014.
McNeal had just had the ring polished and inspected so she could give it to her son Paul who was going to give it to his then girlfriend Colby, and propose to her.
But before that happened police say Solomon broke into the McNeal’s house in Tacoma in September 2014, ransacked their bedroom and took the ring.
“It was sitting in the box next to my bed stand when we were robbed,” O’Neal said. “I saw that everything was a mess, but I knew immediately that this was gone because the box was gone.”
Solomon was arrested by Lakewood police in November 2014 and convicted of burglary and trafficking in stolen property. Investigators say he took in more than $44,000 pawning stolen items.
Martin, who worked the case, was able to recover tens of thousands in unclaimed jewelry from local pawn shops, but had little success tracking down the owners.
Then, more than two years later, McNeal was told about a KIRO 7 report about the jewelry stolen by Solomon still sitting in the Lakewood police evidence locker that aired Feb. 23.
She contacted Lakewood police about the ring, dug up the old police report and now she has it back.
"We've had this stuff for two years and we want to get as much of it as we can back so here's a success story for that," said Lakewood police lieutenant Chris Lawler
Paul and Colby McNeal got married last fall, without the ring. The couple are now on a belated honeymoon in New Zealand.
McNeal says when they come back they will finally get the ring she promised them.
“I have to notify them,” she said. “I haven’t told them yet.”
Lakewood police are still looking for owners who can identify unclaimed items of jewelry taken during the 2014 burglaries.
Contact Detective Russ Martin at (253) 830-5026.
Cox Media Group
