Man's Jewelry Sales Raise Suspicions

A 29-year-old Cudahy man is facing charges after he allegedly stole jewelry and coins out of two homes and pawned them in Greenfield.

Scott K. Barker was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Tuesday with one count of theft of more than $5,000 and one count of theft of more than $2,500. If convicted, he faces up to 9 ½ years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

On July 3, Greenfield police officers were called to Robert Haack Diamonds after Barker came in and sold some jewelry for $187 he claimed to buy from an estate sale hours earlier. The transaction was flagged and officers discovered Barker sold items to the store 27 times in the past seven months.

All of the items were still at the store and some were traced back to a home in the 2300 block of Birchwood and a Milwaukee home in the 3600 block of Whitnall Avenue.

Police contacted one of the victim who said $3,875 worth of jewelry was taken from their home when a relative and Barker watched it while the victim was out of town. A Milwaukee woman had $4,997 in jewelry taken from her home and said Barker was living there with her and her daughter at the time.

Barker said he’s addicted to Percocet and admitted taking the items to pursue more drugs.

He will make his initial appearance in court Oct. 23.