Mystery of missing $3,100 opal ring is solved as owner spots it listed on Facebook marketplace – and discovers her CLEANER snatched it
- Rachel Strelow noticed her $3,100 ring had disappeared in February this year
- She had recently hired a fortnightly cleaner at the time the ring went missing
- She spotted it on Gumtree in July and arranged for her husband to collect it
- Former cleaner Miranda Faye Hamilton, 38, pleaded guilty to stealing the ring
A woman who lost her favourite $3,100 opal ring spotted the item on Gumtree months later – after learning her cleaner had snatched it from her home.
Rachel Strelow, from Brisbane‘s north, was devastated after her beloved ring vanished from her dresser in mid February.
The ‘one-of-a-kind’ piece of jewellery had disappeared around the same time she hired a cleaner from the Two Wog Girls Cleaning Company service.
It wasn’t until July that Ms Strelow came across the ring that had been listed online for $1,000 by her former cleaner, the Sandgate Magistrates Court heard last week.
Rachel Strelow (pictured with husband) was devastated after finding her $3,100 opal ring had vanished from her home in February
She decided to start looking for the ring – which was set in 24 carat gold – on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace after months without it turning up.
‘I’d bought the ring for myself (and) it was really important, really sentimental to me,’ she said, The Courier Mail reported.
‘It’s unique, one-of-a-kind, and I knew I’d be able to pick it out if I saw it online.’
Ms Strelow had alerted both the cleaning company and the police after she lost the piece of jewellery.
On July 2, Ms Strelow spotted the listing under the name Miranda Faye Hamilton.
It had originally been listed to Gumtree for $1,000 but was reduced down to $400.
Ms Strelow’s husband contacted Hamilton, the 38-year-old former Two Wog Girls cleaner, and arranged to meet up, offering $300 for the ring.
Ms Strelow eventually spotted her beloved ring was for sale on Gumtree by her former cleaner
Upon returning the ring, Ms Strelow said she was ‘in tears’ while her husband reported the matter to police.
The court heard the cleaner had found the ring on the driveway and had decided to sell it later when she was short for money.
‘She put the ring in the console of her car (and when her former employers) directly asked about it she didn’t say anything,’ the police prosecutor said.
Hamilton pleaded guilty to stealing the ring and dishonestly receiving money from it.
She was fined $450 and ordered to pay Ms Strelow $300.
Hamilton has since started work for another cleaning company.