Uniontown woman nabbed in jewelry heist
A woman is behind bars after police allege she broke into a home in Uniontown in mid-November and stole jewelry.
Uniontown police Officer Jeremy Schult said Cassaundra Lee Kephart, 23, of Uniontown was charged Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief.
According to Schult, police were initially summoned to the residence of Brad George and Kirsten Carr at 91 Oakland Ave. for a reported burglary on Nov. 15.
The couple told police that someone had removed an air conditioner from a window and then entered the residence. Once inside, the suspect stole nearly $2,000 worth of jewelry, Schult said.
Police began to investigate and received information on Nov. 16 that some of the stolen jewelry was at the Gold Buyers kiosk at Uniontown Mall in South Union Township.
Uniontown police Capt. David J. Rutter responded to the kiosk, where he discovered that Kephart, along with another woman, sold the items to Gold Buyers for $247.
Rutter also discovered that the man working at the kiosk had stolen several pieces of jewelry from Kephart and her companion while they were conducting the transaction.
After the women left, the employee admitted to Rutter that he wrote a fake receipt under a bogus name for the items he had pocketed from the women and paid himself $99 for them.
Rutter said those items were also stolen from the house on Oakland Avenue and were subsequently seized by police.
Schult noted that state police will file theft and fraud charges against the kiosk employee at a later date.
Schult said that police determined that the woman who had accompanied Kephart to the kiosk, Kristen Brown of South Union Township, had used her identification to complete the transaction.
On Nov. 25, Schult said that he and police Chief Jason A. Cox interviewed Brown about the incident and she admitted that Kephart had used Brown’s identification to make the sale of the items but said that she thought the jewelry belonged to Kephart. Police said Brown was not charged.
Five days later, Rutter said he interviewed Kephart, who admitted to breaking into the residence and stealing the jewelry.
Kephart was placed in Fayette County Prison on $20,000 straight cash bond following her arraignment Tuesday.