Police: Woman sold jewelry, faked robbery

BALLWIN, Mo., April 16 (UPI) -- Police in Missouri said they arrested a woman accused of selling her mother's jewelry to a scrap dealer and concocting a false story about a robbery.

Investigators said Brittany Rae Harper told police April 4 she had returned from walking her dog to find a white male in the Ballwin home she shares with her mother and the intruder held her on the ground before fleeing with another unseen intruder with $4,900 worth of jewelry and cash, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

However, investigators soon discovered the jewelry had been sold to a local scrap dealer. The dealer gave police a picture of Harper's driver's license, which he said she had provided when she allegedly brought him the valuables.

Police said they interrogated Harper and she admitted to selling the jewelry to give the money to her boyfriend, who lives out of state. She was arrested Thursday and charged with filing a false police report.