Owner of cleaning service charged with stealing jewelry from client

Staff report

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – Stacey Lynn Poulos, 48, of High Springs, was arrested yesterday and charged with grand theft after allegedly stealing jewelry from a client while cleaning his house.

The victim told a High Springs Police Department officer that he had left a bag of jewelry on top of the refrigerator on November 13 for his ex-girlfriend to pick up, and Poulos was hired to clean the house on November 13 and 14. The victim said he noticed that the jewelry was missing and checked with his ex-girlfriend to make sure she had not picked it up before reporting the theft on November 21. The bag reportedly contained a diamond ring with an estimated value of $2,000. The victim said he had asked Poulos about the jewelry, and she said she didn’t have it and “didn’t clean that drawer.”

The officer made contact with Poulos at her home, and he reported that Poulos said she found the jewelry in a cooler outside her home. The officer reported, however, that there was no jewelry in the cooler when he arrived. He said Poulos came out of her home with a brown bag and said the missing jewelry was in the bag.

Post Miranda, Poulos reportedly said that when she got home after work, she saw the bag sticking out of the cooler. When she was asked who would have put the jewelry in the cooler, she reportedly said she had “a few girls who work for me” and that they both “knew that he was moving.”

However, Poulos also reportedly said she was the only person with access to the home besides the homeowners, and she reportedly refused to give the officer the names of the “girls” who work for her because they have children.

Poulos has been charged with grand theft. She has no criminal history; Judge Thomas Jaworski set bail at $1,000.

According to Sunbiz, she has previously registered cleaning businesses in Bonita Springs and Panama City, both of which are now inactive, but the company named by the victim, My Cleaning Lady 239, is not listed in Sunbiz.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.