(La Porte, IN) - A Michigan City woman accused of stealing wedding rings from the fingers of nursing home residents is scheduled for her initial court appearance on Friday.

 

Macy Blake, 25, is still being held today in the La Porte County Jail on $25,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow morning before LaPorte Circuit Court Judge Tom Alevizos on Level 3 Felony Robbery and three counts of Level 6 Felony Theft.

 

The robbery charge alone could bring her anywhere from a 2-to-12 year sentence.

 

According to court documents, she was employed at Miller’s Health and Rehab at 3530 Monroe Street in La Porte. Beginning in late January, it’s alleged that Blake over a three-week period stole four rings from the fingers of three female residents as they slept during the night while she was on duty.

 

One resident had two rings she had not taken off in years removed on separate occasions while sleeping. One of the difficult-to-slip-off rings was tugged on hard enough to cause the victim’s finger to bleed. A ring taken from the finger of another resident who later died belonged to the woman’s grandmother.

 

A break in the investigation came when another victim woke up to a small-framed young blonde woman trying to pull a wedding band from her finger. Per officials, Blake was the only midnight shift worker matching the description the woman gave of the suspect.

 

Each of the rings had an estimated value of $1,000 or more, and Blake allegedly sold them to a pawn shop. In her testamony to investigators, she stated she needed the money to make ends meet since the nursing home wasn’t giving her enough hours at work.

 

So far, whether the rings have been recovered is not known, but police said the pawn shop buying the rings was making an effort to locate the items.

 

The robbery charge was filed in one of the thefts because of the force used and injury that resulted from the taking.