Teh One Who Knocks
01-08-2013, 12:00 PM
By Rachel Quigley - The Daily Mail
http://i.imgur.com/wONGO.png
A woman who found a $20,000 diamond ring in a tanning salon room and didn't attempt to return it until a reward was offered is suing the ring's owner for breach of contract.
Bonnie Land, from St Charles, St Louis, is suing ring-owner Melisa Boucek because she did not get the $3,000 reward for the return of the ring but instead got arrested and charged with stealing it.
She’s claiming breach of contract, fraud and damages and wants in excess of $66,500.
Land insists she always intended to return the ring, a two-carat yellow diamond surrounded by 27 smaller white diamonds, after she found it hanging on a hook on May 7, 2011, in a room at the Tan Company in St Charles.
She used the spray tan room right after Miss Boucek and put the ring into her jacket pocket, intending to return it when she left, however she forgot, she claims.
When Miss Boucke realized her ring was gone she called the salon and when it could not be located it was reported stolen to police, according to STLToday.com.
The police interviewed staff and contacted customers but did not contact Land because she had moved and they did not have her new address.
Land claims she forgot about the ring until she found it in her pocket a few weeks later when she wore the same jacket.
She said: 'I felt so guilty about having it that I just rolled it up in some tissue and put it in a back pocket of my purse. I didn’t know how to take it back.'
More than a month later, on June 7, Land returned to the same tanning salon and saw a sign for the ring with a reward of $3,000 for its return.
She said she was so embarrassed about it all that instead of alerting the salon staff, she left without mentioning it and asked her roommate to call the number and arranged to meet the next day at a jewelry store.
When they arrived at the store the pair were surrounded by police and Land was taken in for questioning. Six weeks later she was charged with stealing.
The charges were later deferred because she did not have a serious criminal record and the ring was recovered.
St Charles police Detective Mike Myers who investigated the case told STLToday: 'It was found in a room that only was used by one person at a time. Even if it was a week later, why not just go back to the place and say, "Hey, has anybody reported this missing?"'
The civil case is to be decided by a judge who must decide whether or not Land and Boucek had entered a contract because of the reward posting.
Land said the case has ruined her life.
'I’m not a thief; the worst thing I think I’ve ever done is speeding,' she said. 'But this called my whole character into question.'
http://i.imgur.com/wONGO.png
A woman who found a $20,000 diamond ring in a tanning salon room and didn't attempt to return it until a reward was offered is suing the ring's owner for breach of contract.
Bonnie Land, from St Charles, St Louis, is suing ring-owner Melisa Boucek because she did not get the $3,000 reward for the return of the ring but instead got arrested and charged with stealing it.
She’s claiming breach of contract, fraud and damages and wants in excess of $66,500.
Land insists she always intended to return the ring, a two-carat yellow diamond surrounded by 27 smaller white diamonds, after she found it hanging on a hook on May 7, 2011, in a room at the Tan Company in St Charles.
She used the spray tan room right after Miss Boucek and put the ring into her jacket pocket, intending to return it when she left, however she forgot, she claims.
When Miss Boucke realized her ring was gone she called the salon and when it could not be located it was reported stolen to police, according to STLToday.com.
The police interviewed staff and contacted customers but did not contact Land because she had moved and they did not have her new address.
Land claims she forgot about the ring until she found it in her pocket a few weeks later when she wore the same jacket.
She said: 'I felt so guilty about having it that I just rolled it up in some tissue and put it in a back pocket of my purse. I didn’t know how to take it back.'
More than a month later, on June 7, Land returned to the same tanning salon and saw a sign for the ring with a reward of $3,000 for its return.
She said she was so embarrassed about it all that instead of alerting the salon staff, she left without mentioning it and asked her roommate to call the number and arranged to meet the next day at a jewelry store.
When they arrived at the store the pair were surrounded by police and Land was taken in for questioning. Six weeks later she was charged with stealing.
The charges were later deferred because she did not have a serious criminal record and the ring was recovered.
St Charles police Detective Mike Myers who investigated the case told STLToday: 'It was found in a room that only was used by one person at a time. Even if it was a week later, why not just go back to the place and say, "Hey, has anybody reported this missing?"'
The civil case is to be decided by a judge who must decide whether or not Land and Boucek had entered a contract because of the reward posting.
Land said the case has ruined her life.
'I’m not a thief; the worst thing I think I’ve ever done is speeding,' she said. 'But this called my whole character into question.'