Housekeeper Gets Jail Time for Stealing Jewelry from Belmont Home

A 43-year-old woman has been sentenced to six months in jail for stealing thousands of dollars in jewelry from homes she'd been hired to clean in Belmont, Menlo Park and Atherton.

Luz Maria Garcia was also sentenced to five years of probation at her hearing Thursday in San Mateo County Superior Court, according to the district attorney's office.

Garcia had been employed as a house cleaner by "The Maids" home cleaning service when the jewelry thefts took place.

Garcia stole a $4,200 diamond ring and gold earrings from a victim's jewelry box in Belmont; two pairs of gold earrings and a pair of blue topaz earrings from a victim in Menlo Park; and a gold necklace with diamond studs and gold earrings from a victim in Atherton, prosecutors said.

She sold much of the jewelry to jewelry stores in the area. She also reportedly admitted to stealing jewelry from five other homes she was cleaning, but no victims were identified and she wasn't charged in those additional thefts.

The morning her jury trial was scheduled to begin on Feb. 6, Garcia pleaded no contest to charges of felony grant theft and felony possession of stolen property, on the condition she wouldn't be sent to prison and would spend no more than a year in county jail, prosecutors said.

On Thursday, she was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims in the respected amounts of $3940.00, $15,884.00, $13,084, as well as a $280 restitution fee, an $80 court fine and a $60 criminal conviction fee.

Garcia had been out of custody on a $50,000 bail bond.