(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Cushing woman accused of stealing cash, various silver coins and an engagement ring from an elderly neighbor’s home has been jailed on $5,000 bail with an order to appear in court on July 11.
The victim estimated her loss to be $7,860 to $8,365, Cushing Police Sgt. Matt Piatt wrote in an affidavit.
If convicted of larceny from a house, Lacey Camille Armbruster, 25, who was arrested June 3, could be imprisoned for five years, court records show.
The victim reported the theft, which occurred last year, after a relative found one of her stolen rings at Mike’s Cash N Pawn in Cushing in April, the affidavit said.
The Cushing police sergeant alleged that as he went inside the victim’s home, “I heard Armbruster say, ‘I stole a few coins, but I didn’t take the cash.”
“Armbruster again said she didn’t take the $1,400 in cash that was in the drawer next to the missing jewelry, but would ‘take responsibility for the whole thing,’” the affidavit alleged.
“Armbruster declined to talk to me or complete a statement. I told Ambruster she was free to leave as I would not speak to her,” the Cushing sergeant wrote in his affidavit. At that point, an arrest warrant had not yet been issued for Ambruster.
As Armbruster was leaving, the victim “told her she was no longer welcome in her home and she should not return,” the affidavit said.
The victim told the Cushing police sergeant “being a victim has taken a terrible toll on her health as she didn’t understand why someone would take anything from her especially someone she knew, since she helped them so much,” with food and other things, the affidavit said.
The victim said that Armbruster and her girlfriend “are unemployed and very aware of her schedule,” the affidavit said.
The victim said that “on the weekend of Nov. 21 and 22 of 2015, she traveled to Texas with her daughter to visit her granddaughter,” the affidavit said.
The victim said that on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, “she saw Ross was having a big sale so she was planning on going shopping with the money she saved,” the affidavit said.
The victim said “she went to her bedroom dresser drawer to get her money and saw it was all gone,” the affidavit said.
The victim said “she had saved $400 and her son and daughter each gave her $500 so she could get a new mattress since hers was twenty years old,” the affidavit said.
When she started looking through her jewelry box in the same drawer, she realized that her wedding ring, a pearl ring, two sets of earrings and her deceased husband’s wedding ring were all missing, the affidavit said.
She said $400 in a wallet was also missing, the affidavit said.
The victim said “she was so upset that she spent the next two days crying and worrying about the missing items and what else would be missing,” the affidavit said.
She said she no longer felt safe in her own home and had the door locks changed, the affidavit said.
The victim said she had always shown kindness to Armbruster and her girlfriend, whom she treated “like they were her granddaughters,” the affidavit said.
When the Cushing police sergeant went to Mike’s Cash N Pawn, “I was told that Armbruster never pawned anything, but sold items to his shop,” Piatt wrote in his affidavit.
“I was told all the items he purchased had already been sold except the ring a family member inquired about,” — which the victim later bought back for $53.56 because she felt it “was too valuable to her to risk losing it again,” the affidavit said.
According to court records, Armbruster has also been charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in Cushing.
In that case, Cushing Police Officer Aaron Sherman was sent at 10:16 p.m. on Feb. 3 to the 900 block of N. Noble Street regarding two females yelling at each other in the area, his affidavit said.
As the officer approached Cushing Police Sgt. Matt Piatt, who was already on scene, and Ambruster, “I could smell an odor I know to be marijuana,” his affidavit alleged.
“Lacey (Armbruster) pulled out a small baggy with green leafy substance and a metal smoking pipe,” with residue that tested positive for marijuana, the affidavit alleged.
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