Memory care worker accused of pawning wedding rings fails to appear in court – ABC 6 News

(ABC 6 News) – A Texas woman accused of stealing and pawning wedding rings from a woman with dementia failed to appear in Freeborn County Court on Oct. 31.

Clasette Leanne Way, 23, moved back to Donna, Texas, before she was accused of the Albert Lea theft.

According to court documents, a man called police in February 2024 because his wife, a dementia patient at a memory care facility, was missing her wedding rings.

The three wedding sets were valued at $7,775.

According to court documents, the facility manager said the rings were discovered missing in late February and the last time they were found was when Way removed them so the woman could bathe.

In April, an Albert Lea investigator searched for pawn shop activity in Way and discovered that two of the rings had been sold to stores in Alamo and Harlingen, Texas.

The memory care facility said Way returned to Texas for a family emergency.

Way allegedly told an investigator that she had “forgotten” the rings she had been carrying in her bag months earlier, brought them to Texas in a panic, and “one thing led to another” – so she sold them.