OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was another busy Saturday afternoon at Circle D Pawn in Shawnee when Tina Peerson noticed two people acting suspiciously around the ring counter. Police later identified them as 21-year-old Cory Nettles and 21-year-old Melissa Patterson.
"They switched places," Peerson says. "After they looked at something they would switch places back and forth to kind of figure out what they were going to do."
Circle D Pawn management showed News Channel 4 their surveillance video, in which a person can be seen checking to see if the ring counter is locked.
Minutes later, he is seen leaning over a counter and taking a tray of 15 rings, worth nearly $10,000.
Circle D Pawn employee Steve Sherlock later identified Nettles as the man on the tape.
"I was pretty mad about it," Sherlock says, "because I was standing about ten feet away and didn't even see the guy."
Authorities say Nettles went less than a mile and-a-half down the street to an EZ Pawn to cash in.
Police say since he didn't have identification, Nettles paid someone to sell some of the rings.
The first attempt was successful; however when he returned to recruit a different person hours later, that person didn't follow through.
At that point, EZ Pawn employees were on the lookout for Nettles, who police say took off in his truck.
Eric Lear just happened to be in the store and followed Nettles in traffic, helping police make an arrest.
"We need crime stopped whenever we can," Lear says.
Police say they found two of the stolen rings in Nettles' truck, two more in his home, and another on Patterson's finger; the others are unaccounted for
Both suspects bonded out of the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center.
"They switched places," Peerson says. "After they looked at something they would switch places back and forth to kind of figure out what they were going to do."
Circle D Pawn management showed News Channel 4 their surveillance video, in which a person can be seen checking to see if the ring counter is locked.
Minutes later, he is seen leaning over a counter and taking a tray of 15 rings, worth nearly $10,000.
Circle D Pawn employee Steve Sherlock later identified Nettles as the man on the tape.
"I was pretty mad about it," Sherlock says, "because I was standing about ten feet away and didn't even see the guy."
Authorities say Nettles went less than a mile and-a-half down the street to an EZ Pawn to cash in.
Police say since he didn't have identification, Nettles paid someone to sell some of the rings.
The first attempt was successful; however when he returned to recruit a different person hours later, that person didn't follow through.
At that point, EZ Pawn employees were on the lookout for Nettles, who police say took off in his truck.
Eric Lear just happened to be in the store and followed Nettles in traffic, helping police make an arrest.
"We need crime stopped whenever we can," Lear says.
Police say they found two of the stolen rings in Nettles' truck, two more in his home, and another on Patterson's finger; the others are unaccounted for
Both suspects bonded out of the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center.
