Woman accused of conning church pastor with jewelry

[Ian David]

LEE COUNTY: Hundreds of dollars worth of stolen jewelry ended up at a Lee County church. A 52-year-old North Fort Myers woman bought the jewelry from Edison Mall with a stolen credit card and sold it to the church pastor at a cheaper price.

The jewelry was bought at Bailey, Banks and Biddle's Jewelry Store located inside the Edison Mall.

The store manager says there was nothing unusual about the woman or the transaction. But the wife of the pastor who bought the stolen goods says she knew right away something just wasn't right.

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Officers say Keating walked into the jewelry store and bought more than $1,500 worth of jewelry with the stolen credit card. Almost immediately, she went to the church’s community outreach center and sold Pastor Younger a white gold cross necklace and earrings worth about $800 for $225.

"The longer I held it, the worse I felt about it. I'm a very suspicious person and when you're ministering to the poor and needy like we are, they're desperate," said Younger.

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