Welland personal support worker charged with jewelry theft

Published July 21, 2022 at 4:00 pm

A Welland personal services worker (PSW) to the elderly has been charged with theft of jewelry from at least one of her clients.

On July 11, Niagara Police started an investigation following a complaint that jewelry had gone missing from a local residence.

Before long, they realized the PSW had gained entry into the house where the jewelry was stolen.

Police recovered the stolen jewelry in a local pawnshop and with the help of the owner, who provided them with closed-circuit television footage, the suspect was confirmed to be the PSW responsible for the client’s care.

Melody Varley, 71, of Welland was arrested on July 19 and charged with trafficking in property obtained by crime not exceeding $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000

However, the police also discovered that Varley has pawned numerous pieces of jewelry over the past several weeks. They are asking anyone who Varley may have worked for to check their personal belongings and look at the pictures below to see if any of it belongs to them.