Terri Scott said a friend she let stay in her home for a while stole thousands of dollars worth of her belongings. The stolen items included some pieces of family jewelry that Scott said are irreplaceable.

“The most important thing that was stolen was a ring my mother gave me before she died of cancer,” said Scott.

Police eventually arrested Gail Nesper, and say Nesper had stolen from Scott and then sold off items to several pawn shops in Seminole County.  Nesper was sentenced on Jan. 26 to two years in prison.  

But Scott said her nightmare is far from over.  She said a Cash America Pawn store in Longwood melted down some of her jewelry even though police had instructed the pawn shop to hold onto it until the case was resolved. Police said the law requires businesses to notify law enforcement agencies when the holding period expires.  Casselberry Police said they never got such a letter from Cash America Pawn.

“I feel like I’m being victimized a second time. My assumption was that it was all in evidence somewhere. I didn’t know that each individual pawn shop was holding the items that were pawned to them,” said Scott.

Casselberry Police said they have the legal authority to seize stolen items from pawn shops and could theoretically take those items back to their police station. But they say they rarely do that because of logistics.

“We deal with the pawn shops on a day-to-day basis. And we’re talking items that range from power tools to a bicycle to jewelry. And if we took every item in, it would be an inventory nightmare for us to retain everything here,” said Captain Chris Pamatian with the Casselberry Police Department.

A spokesperson for Cash America Pawn said they sent Casselberry Police a certified letter at the end of the hold period, and when they didn’t hear anything back they sent Scott’s property to scrap. They said the company did everything legally, but they have offered to allow Scott to buy other merchandise at the store to make up the difference of her lost jewelry.

But Scott, who was able to buy her mother’s ring back, said the rest can’t be replaced.

“My memories got melted away, and that’s all I’ve got left. I’m not working, I’m a caregiver for my father right now, but if I had the money back then knowing all this, I would’ve bought it all back right then and there,” said Scott.

Casselberry Police say if something is stolen, buying that item back is unfortunately your only guarantee you will not lose that item for good. They said theft victims can also ask the shop to release the property to the victim at no cost. They say some pawn shops will do that, especially if the item is not that expensive.

The third option for a theft victim is to petition the court for property to be returned once the case is over.