Man Gave Stolen Jewelry to Grandmother, Police Say

An Easton man is accused of stealing numerous pieces of jewelry from his girlfriend’s mother and giving one of those pieces – a black onyx necklace – to his grandmother who lives in a Palmer Township nursing home.

A criminal complaint filed against Shawn Lutes-Ferraira, 22, of 600 Canal St., Apt. A24, describes a whirlwind of events that began last weekend when he and his girlfriend stayed at her parents’ house in Palmer.

According to township police:

--One of the items Lutes-Ferraira allegedly stole was a pear-shaped diamond pendant on a gold chain, valued at $7,300. Police found the pendant in a brown suitcase that even the girlfriend thought was the suspect’s. It actually belonged to her mother.

--On May 27, he sold some of the jewelry – but not the diamond pendant – at a Lehigh Valley Mall store for $560. His girlfriend drove him to the mall but did not go inside with him.

--At one point, Lutes-Ferraira told his girlfriend – with whom he has a 7-month-old son -- he was going to take his mother’s jewelry in order to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring. The complaint does not say if he bought her the ring.

--With the girlfriend’s mother and the mother’s husband watching, the grandmother told police her grandson at first told her he won the black onyx necklace “in a raffle” but later changed his story and said he used “the money from his check” to buy the jewelry as a gift.

--By Monday night, Lutes-Ferraira wound up in Easton Hospital’s intensive care unit. The complaint does not say what was wrong with him. But it does say that when his girlfriend went to the hospital to see him, she found some cash and some of her mother’s jewelry in his pants pocket.

Lutes-Ferraira was arraigned Friday afternoon by District Judge Jackie Taschner of Palmer Township and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.