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KDKA Investigates: Theft Victim Frustrated In Attempt To Recover Family Heirlooms

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - How would you feel if someone stole your family heirlooms and you found them for sale, but you couldn't get them back? It happened to one local woman and she says the experience has been devastating and frustrating.

Renee Kuhn hired a contractor to do work in her home, not knowing that a self-confessed drug addict with a history of theft convictions was on the job.  Days later, she discovered that her bedroom armoire was emptied of an estimated $40,000 in gold and silver jewelry, many of them pieces from her late mother and grandmother.  She was crushed.

"Stolen memories. They weren't just items to me. They were my whole life," Kuhn said.

Police say Tyler Neal confessed to stealing the jewelry and selling it to local cash for gold businesses. Neal is awaiting trial on theft charges.

Kuhn says she found her items at two of those businesses.  She contacted KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan after she was unsuccessful in getting the pieces back.

"I was hoping to tell them my story of what happened. I was hoping they would believe me," Kuhn said.

Kuhn says she found some of her pieces at a store called Cash for Gold in the Natrona Heights Shopping Center, but when her father tried to buy the items back for scrap value, he claims the owner accused him of trying to take advantage.

"She just started accusing me of being a criminal wanting to come into the store and buy their metals at scrap value just to profit myself," said Kuhn's father.

Other pieces were registered as sold by Neal on a law enforcement database that tracks the sale of precious metals.  But, when Kuhn went to the store on the registry, Gold N Gals in Natrona Heights, the owner told her the items had already been sent out to be melted as scrap.

Kuhn said she also saw pieces she could identify as hers in the jewelry cases at the store, but because she had no proof they were hers, the owner didn't want to talk further.

Store owner Rachelle Timerac said she believed Neal owned the jewelry she purchased.

"He had an ID. I can't say to someone I have a bad vibe about you for whatever reason. If someone came in and looked like some kind of 'joneser' or heroin addict, I wouldn't buy from him," Timerac said.

Experts say drug addicts are often involved in these types of crimes.

"With the opioid crisis right now that's an easy theft and an easy sell," State Rep. Dom Costa said. "You know you're going to be able to pawn the stuff off."

Costa plans to sponsor legislation that would tighten the laws to better protect consumers.

But for Renee Kuhn that will be too late.

"I still feel that no one cares," she said.

Even though she's frustrated, she has advice for others: take pictures of your valuables so you can prove they're yours if they're stolen, not just for a criminal case, but also to be able to recover losses from your insurance company.

"You're a victim. Do your own research and good luck," she said.

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