Police: Man used lube to steal ring

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Police in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said a slick thief used lubricant to slip an expensive ring from an elderly woman's finger after hitting the back of her car.

Investigators said the suspect, who wore gloves coated in a Vaseline-like lubricant, was traveling with another man in a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck when the vehicle bumped the rear of a car belonging to Helen Artim, 80, as the two vehicles approached a traffic light, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.

The police report said the two men instructed Artim to follow them to a parking lot, where the man wearing the gloves told the elderly woman to check her trunk for damage. The report said the man ran his glove over Artim's hand, "covering it with some type of lubricant."

The suspect pushed Artim to the ground and pulled the ring, which was valued between $20,000 and $30,000, from her finger, the report said. The suspect fled in his truck.

Police said no arrests have been made.