Charleston woman says home help took $6,000 of items

HAMLIN -- A Charleston woman is accusing two part-time domestic employees from West Hamlin of collaborating in the theft of more than $6,000 worth of clothing, jewelry, dinnerware and food stuff from her home.

Barbara Tracy wants jury awards, jointly and severally, for special, general compensatory and punitive damages assessed against Nelda Lovejoy and James Harless, plus her attorney fees and court costs.

Harless was employed by the plaintiffs husband to do yard work and handyman jobs for some 20 years, the complaint says. Nelda Lovejoy was introduced to the Tracys by Harless for the purposes of performing light housekeeping and to care for Barbara Tracy during her recuperation from November 2009 cardiac surgery. Complaint says Ms. Tracy was an "incapacitated adult" during the period from December 2009 to June 2010.

Lovejoy intermittently commuted with Harless to-and-from the Tracy home every two weeks or so, the complaint relates, from December 2009 to June 2010 when the couple performed their respective chores. During her period of incapacitation, Tracy claims "virtually innumerable valuable items had gone missing ..."

Harless and Lovejoy consequently were terminated and there has been no contact with the Tracys concerning return of alleged stolen items, or a restitution of their value, according to the complaint.

Charleston attorney David R. Karr Jr. filed the Conversion and Trover, Theft proceeding for Tracy as Case number 11-C-8 scheduled for trial next September before Judge Jay M. Hoke in Lincoln Circuit Court.

Lincoln Circuit Court case number: 11-C-8