ORANGE CITY, Florida – A Florida man stole a girlfriend’s engagement ring and wedding ring and reported it to another girlfriend, according to authorities.
Deputies from the sheriff’s office in Volusia province said they had issued an arrest warrant for Joseph Davis, 48, who was not found on Saturday.
Their investigation began earlier this year when a woman from Orange City, Florida, told detectives that she had discovered her boyfriend was actually engaged to someone else. When she looked up the fiancé’s Facebook page, she saw a photo of her with a wedding pledge and an engagement ring that was identical to her own from a previous marriage, the sheriff said in a news release.
When the Orange City woman checked her jewelry box, she found that her rings were missing, as well as several other jewelry, including a diamond ring that belonged to her grandmother. The total value of the stolen property, according to the sheriff’s office, was approximately $ 6,270.
Orange City is located halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach.
The Orange City woman reached out to the fiancée, who returned some of the items, and they both mentioned it along with Davis, who also went by the names “Joe Brown” and “Marcus Brown,” the sheriff said.
The fiancé, who lives in Orlando, told detectives she was also deceived.
Davis once took the fiancée to a home that actually belonged to the Orange City woman while she was at work, claiming it was his. He then asked the fiancé to move in with him, but he then disappeared. By this time, the fiancé had discovered that her laptop and jewelry were missing, the sheriff said.
Although they did not have his real name, the cleaved women remembered that he had a family member in North Carolina and detectives were able to locate the family member who Davis identified, according to the sheriff’s office.
Davis has an active arrest warrant for a hit-and-run accident with injuries in Oregon, and has previously been arrested for possession of fictitious IDs, filing a false police report, domestic assault and possession of cocaine with the purpose of selling, the sheriff’s office said.
According to the sheriff’s office, the prison where Davis was previously booked noticed that he had a tattoo on his left arm that said, “Only God can judge me.”