Police: Woman swallowed diamond, pawned it later
Jul 10, 2012, 6:30 PM
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A Utah woman is accused of theft after police say she swallowed a $4,000 diamond ring at a department store before pawning it off after it passed through her system.
Police say 38-year-old Angela Winters Hardman of Sandy stopped at a Macy’s outside Salt Lake City in May and asked to try on the jewelry.
An employee says Hardman then made a switch and handed back a similar, though obviously bogus, ring _ but denied stealing the real thing.
Detectives who watched surveillance video confronted Hardman later and say she admitted swallowing the ring and pawning it days later for $600.
Sandy Police Sgt. Jon Arnold says the ring first went through the “natural digestive process.”
Hardman is charged with felony retail theft. It wasn’t clear whether she had a lawyer.
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