Jason Beasley, Lake Worth man pawned $25,000 in jewelry for $2,800, deputies say

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - Jason Beasley worked for his father, remodeling houses – but police say he used his access to one woman's home to steal jewelry and supplement his income.

After a Lake Worth woman discovered he sold $25,000 worth of her jewelry to a local pawn shop for less than $3,000, police arrested 31-year-old Beasley on grand theft charges.

According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office report, Jacqueline McDonald knew something was wrong a few months ago, when numerous pieces of her jewelry slowly disappeared, a few pieces at a time.

First, a few gold and diamond earrings vanished. McDonald, 57, thought she might have lost the items – until her late father's jewelry disappeared, too.

McDonald then talked to a friend, who suggested she check out the local pawn shops, because stolen items often end up on the shelves there. So, she did.

McDonald walked into Pawn Unlimited in the 3600 block of Lake Worth Road on Monday and scanned the shelves. Bingo.

She found several pieces of her jewelry and called the sheriff's office. When deputies showed up, McDonald had already guessed who could have stolen her stuff.

"Jason Beasley," she told deputies.

Beasley's father is a contractor in the area, McDonald said, and he has worked on McDonald's house numerous times. He has a key to her home. He knows her alarm system security code. McDonald had known the Beasley family for years.

She watched a young Jason Beasley grow up.

And Jason Beasley often helped his father work on McDonald's house when she was out of town.

The pawn shop owner then pulled records and receipts that showed Beasley pawned jewelry at the shop many times.

Deputies met with Beasley at his father's home in West Palm Beach the next day.

"Beasley told me he had in fact pawned the victim's jewelry and was sorry for his actions," a deputy wrote in the report.

At the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Beasley admitted to pawning McDonald's jewelry 28 times at two pawn shops in the past few months. He got $2,855 for his troubles.

McDonald said the jewelry was worth $25,000.

Beasley remained the Palm Beach County Jail Wednesday in lieu of $101,000 bail.