Police Need Help Returning Jewelry To Owners

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — The Lawrenceville Police Department is seeking the public's help reuniting numerous pieces of jewelry with their owners after an investigation was conducted into The Bench Jewelers. At the center of the case is business owner Timothy New.

"Generally, customers brought New jewelry, which was to be sold on consignment for a small fee. New was using the proceeds of the sale for his own use and not paying the customers the money they were owed," Lawrenceville PD said in a news release. " In other cases, New was paid to design and make custom jewelry but never completed the work and refused to refund the customer’s money."

Bench Jewelers, located at 137 Crogan St., has since closed and no longer has a Georgia business license, Lawrenceville PD added. New has been charged in several of the cases, which are all pending. Detectives have served several search warrants, which yielded the recovery of a large amount of jewelry. Lawrenceville PD is looking to return the jewelry to confirmed owners, as well as identify additional victims.

New was arrested on one count of theft by taking and nine counts of theft by deception, Lawrenceville PD told Patch. His bail was set at $24,000 and he is currently out of custody. New charges may develop based on the recovered items police have if owners can show that they suffered a financial loss, Lawrenceville PD added.

Please contact Dena Pauly if you were a customer of Timothy New and left jewelry with him
for consignment or repair. Please email details of your situation, along with contracts, receipts
and pictures to dpauly@lawrencevillepd.com or call 770-670-5110.