Police: Nurse assistant stole ring from patient's finger

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the ring was pawned.

A Chateau Girardeau nurse assistant took a ring off a patient's finger and pawned it for $100, police said.

Cape Girardeau police arrested Tonya Denise Dent, 41, of Cape Girardeau on Oct. 11. The Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Dent on Monday with financial exploitation of the elderly.

The victim's daughter noticed the wedding ring set had been removed from her mother's finger Oct. 4, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Cape Girardeau police detective Joe Thomas. The victim was a long-term patient of Chateau Girardeau at 3120 Independence St., Thomas wrote. Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Adam Glueck said the patient was bedridden.

The victim's daughter valued the ring at $25,000, according to the statement.

Police received a report from a Plaza Pawn employee that she had received the ring Oct. 5, Thomas wrote. The victim's family provided photos of the ring, and the Plaza Pawn employee said she received the ring from Dent for $100, according to the statement.

Dent had been working as a certified nursing assistant at Chateau Girardeau since June and wrote in a statement to Chateau Girardeau's administration that she was in the victim's room every two hours.

Police found Dent at her home in the 1200 block of Cousin Street, and she admitted to stealing and selling the ring because she was experiencing financial hardship.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 3120 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO