Construction worker arrested for alleged theft of $15,000 watch from client’s house
A construction worker was arrested on a felony warrant Thursday night stemming from allegations he stole a watch valued at over $15,000 from the home of a client whose home he was working at last year.
Charles John Medeiros, 36, who lists a Bentwood Place address, was taken into custody shortly after 7:30 p.m. in the 200 block of West Grand Avenue and charged with theft of property over $5,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Medeiros, a parolee, was being held on a $10,000 bond and was set to appear Friday in Garland County District Court.
According to court records, he was convicted of theft by receiving over $5,000 on March 11, 2019, and sentenced to five years’ supervised probation; on April 27, 2020, of theft of property involving a credit-debit card and sentenced to six years in prison; and on Jan. 31, 2022, of possession of a controlled substance, heroin, with purpose to deliver and sentenced to three years in prison, but was later paroled.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Dec.
19, 2022, a local resident filed a report with the Garland
County Sheriff’s Office alleg- ing that on Dec. 7, while he was away on vacation, a Rolex watch valued at $15,575, was stolen from his residence as a local construction company was working there.
The resident contacted the manager of the work crew and advised him of the theft, and the manager later allegedly told the resident that one of the men on his crew, identified as Medeiros, had admitted that he took the watch and pawned it at a local pawnshop.
On Dec. 28, the manager was interviewed at the sheriff’s office and reportedly stated that after the resident told him about the stolen watch, he went to see Medeiros and “began talking to him about a mistake he had made without mentioning the watch.” He said Medeiros told him he took a Yacht Rolex from the house and later pawned it for $2,000.
The manager stated he went to the pawnshop to retrieve the watch for the resident but was told it had been sold and was no longer at the store.
Sheriff’s investigators made contact with the owner of the pawnshop who confirmed he had personally purchased the watch for $2,000 and sent it to his brother to sell. He said his brother lives out of state and gave investigators his phone number.
According to the affidavit, the investigators attempted contact with the brother by phone and “have not yet heard back from him.” After further investigation, a warrant for Medeiros was issued on Feb. 3.