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Ex-Nanny For Penguins' Kunitz Charged With Stealing 12K In Jewelry

COLLIER TOWNSHIP (KDKA/AP) – The former nanny of Pittsburgh Penguins player Chris Kunitz has been charged with stealing $12,000 diamond earrings from his home, then selling them to jewelry stores, police said.

According to the criminal complaint, Andrea Forsythe, 26, of Oakdale, stole a pair of diamond earrings from the master bedroom in September of 2013.

Kunitz had purchased the earrings for his wife as a birthday gift. A suspect was not immediately identified at the time.

In January of this year, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms contacted Collier Township Police.

The special agent had uncovered information about Forsythe during an investigation into an unrelated arson for profit and wire fraud case.

In that case, Forsythe is charged with setting fire to a home she rented in Sturgeon, and then filing fraudulent insurance claims for the contents - including some jewels she had allegedly stolen from another couple while also working as a nanny, according to federal court documents.

The other couple told investigators that an 18-karat gold diamond necklace worth about $4,400 and a gold diamond stud earring worth more than $10,000 had been stolen from them before Forsythe had them appraised last year. The appraisals were then used by Forsythe to make property claims to Nationwide insurance following the fire, federal authorities contend.

During an interview with the special agent in December of 2014, Forsythe confessed to stealing the earrings - which were appraised at $11,900 - while the Kunitz family was not home.

She held onto the earrings for about five months and had them appraised on more than one occasion.

Forsythe sold two loose diamonds in 2014 for a total of $3,950.

Forsythe faces a preliminary hearing May 11 on the new theft charges. She's still awaiting trial on the federal arson and wire fraud charges.

Forsythe doesn't have a listed home phone and online court records don't list a defense attorney on the theft charges. Forsythe's public defender on the federal charges didn't respond to a request for comment Friday. Forsythe also didn't respond to messages left on a cellphone and email address listed as hers in a federal search warrant.

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