Maid Arrested in Jewelry Heist

Memphis, TN- A Mid-South maid is behind bars, accused of stealing a quarter million dollars worth of jewelry from the home where she worked.

Carolyn Telford is charged with aggravated burglary, forgery and theft. Police say Telford also stole and cashed checks from the South Bluffs home owner.

We're told the maid worked for the victim for eight years. The victim's family tells us Telford was given money to pay rent, buy a car, and pay for clothing for her six children.

"She said she had been with them a long time and they were good to her. The car she owns, an Impala, they helped her get that car," says neighbor Theresa Dillingham.

At the end of July 2008, Telford is accused of stealing two checks from her employer, totaling $800. A neighbor says that's when she was fired.

"She told me she had lost her job. She was no longer working for them. That's why she had to move. She had her gas cut off and she wasn't able to pay it," says Dillingham.

Around 5:00 p.m. Saturday, September 6, 2008, police say Telford broke into her former employer’s home. The victim's family says the maid knew that is when they would be tailgating at the U of M football game.

Witnesses told police the day of the break-in, they saw Telford’s black Chevy impala parked at the corner of G.E. Patterson and Tennessee St., right outside the South Bluffs subdivision. The victim told police her maid knew where all her jewelry was hidden, $250,000 of diamonds and pearls.

Telford is being held on $100,000 dollars bail at the Shelby County Jail.

You may remember a maid was also arrested in a Germantown home invasion recently. Police say Carra Latrease Abston of Memphis was the mastermind behind an armed robbery in January 2008. Police say she had her boyfriend David Shaw and his cousin Dexter Waddell carry out the crime.