Frederick Tapley snatched an engagement and wedding ring from a deceased 72-year-old woman back in July.
According to DuPage County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Cronin, the 37-year-old hospital employee stole the rings then pawned them. Tapley told investigators that he was in dire need of money in order to settle a mounting cable bill debt.
Cronin told a judge at Tapley’s trial on Wednesday that at the funeral of the deceased woman, a family member noticed that the rings were missing and immediately notified authorities.
After an investigation that took several weeks, Tapley was arrested and the rings, valued at $3,000, were recovered.
Apparently, Tapley’s sticky fingers while on duty caught up with him again back in 2001 when he stole credit cards from a patient at another Chicago hospital facility. At the time, he was convicted of a misdemeanor theft and received a sentence of conditional discharge.
However this go-round, Tapley faces a count of felony theft and may be looking at five years in prison. He will be sentenced in the coming months.â€
