Stolen Jewelry Found When Pawn Shop Burglary Suspect Overdoses In Bank
NORTH HUNTINGDON (KDKA) -- Three days after a burglar broke into a Jeannette pawn shop and made off with thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry, his luck ran out at a local bank where he had a suspected drug overdose.
The suspect was inside the bank, trying to put some of the stolen jewelry into a safety deposit box, when it happened.
Police say Kenneth Rossi, 54, of Jeannette, was carrying a small black bag when he collapsed after a suspected drug overdose in the lobby of the PNC Bank in North Huntingdon. Paramedics and police were called.
Rossi was revived. But when police opened the bag he was carrying, they found jewelry with more than 200 tags from the burglarized pawn shop still on the items.
Jake Cunningham, the owner of Jake's Haggle Hut on Route 30 in Jeannette, told KDKA-TV's Ralph Iannotti, "The jewelry, more than $30,000 worth, was stolen last Wednesday morning from my shop."
The pawn shop theft was captured on security video after Rossi allegedly used a brick to break through the glass on the front door. When he couldn't get money from the register, officials say he went straight to a glass case containing the jewelry.
"I feel great now. When it happened, of course, I was sick. This is a family-owned business; we worked hard for everything we got," Cunningham said.
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Cunningham added that when police showed him Rossi's photograph, he immediately recognized him as someone who'd been in his shop prior to last week's theft.
"He sold a small gift card once. He sold a small pocket knife once. He actually bought a pocket knife off us," Cunningham.
Rossi is charged with receiving stolen property, but more charges are pending. He's being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $75,000 bail.
