$350,000 Missing Engagement Ring Riddle Solved by Private Detective

January 12 2012, 4:05 pm

A Florida couple realised that the wife’s $350,000 engagement ring was missing just before Christmas 2011. They were desperate to retrieve their item but did not want to get in contact with the local authority and have their name exposed to the public.

They decided to hire private investigator John Milano, also an ex-policeman, to carry out a mission to retrieve back the 11 carat emerald cut diamond ring along with a hefty $5,000 reward to anyone that can return back the lost item.

The couple realised they had lost their ring which was at their home, in the cup on their dresser on the 23^rd of December 2011. Mr Milano was sure that there were people in the house at the time the ring went missing and carried out a polygraph test to the potential suspects. He also traced back to pawn shops in Martin County, Florida and also New York City due to the high demand diamond market.

After the polygraph test,26 year old Cody Mejias, a cleaner for the house proved to have failed the test and from then, quoted from Mr Milano that, “she was avoiding him after.” He also said: “I hunted her down. She refused to come in so we had to get police involved.”

Cody Mejias was arrested and after charged with grand theft. The affidavit said: ‘Mejias was apologetic and stated she needed the money to feed her children.’ ‘Mejias advised the money she retrieved from the transaction was used for food, gas, Christmas gifts and bills.’

The ring was tracked back and rediscovered in a pawn shop on Jensen Beach Jewellers which is owned by Charles Sarullo. The ring was allegedly sold for $4,800. The Martin County arrest affidavit states: ‘According to Sarullo, Mejias came in on 12/22/11 and stated she received a diamond ring as an inheritance from a recently deceased aunt.’

Mr Milano called Mr Sarullo to offer him the $5,000 reward to return the ring on top of the $4,800 he spent for it. When an item of high price and value is purchased, it is highly advisable to pay the ‘in-comparisonly-low-fee’ insurance to cover any lost, theft or damage. A mistake the couple clearly made. Likewise, hiring a private or corporate detective in this case proved triumph.