Former caregiver keeps jobless benefits after charged with Cedar Rapids jewelry theft

A resident assistant who was fired and charged with stealing at least $30,000 worth of jewelry from an elderly resident at a Cedar Rapids senior living community is entitled to jobless benefits, a judge has ruled.

According to state records, Charles U. Wolfe worked for Cottage Grove Place as a full-time resident assistant from October 2022 until he was fired in April.

On March 13, an 81-year-old resident reported that a pouch containing more than $30,000 worth of jewelry was missing. The company investigated the matter by reviewing surveillance video and interviewing the staff, but was unable to determine the location of the jewelry or who might have taken it.

State records show the theft was reported to the Cedar Rapids Police Department, which later notified the company that Wolfe was a suspect and the jewelry had been recovered from a pawnshop. Wolfe was suspended without pay and on April 16, he was arrested and charged with first-degree theft against an older individual, a felony offense.

He was fired one week later, then applied for unemployment benefits, which led to a May 15 hearing before Administrative Law Judge Adrienne C. Williamson.

Williamson recently ruled in Wolfe‘s favor, finding that Cottage Grove Place had presented no actual evidence of Wolfe’s guilt at the hearing dealing with his request for unemployment benefits.

“An arrest alone does not constitute misconduct,” Williamson ruled in awarding Wolfe benefits.

According to court records that were publicly filed April 16, one month before the unemployment hearing, Wolfe admitted to police that he had acquired the jewels, claiming he had found them. Police allege he used two female associates to pawn the items at different locations in Eastern Iowa.

Court records indicate the value of the stolen jewelry reported to the police as $46,408, and that the victim had kept the jewels inside her walker for safekeeping.

Wolfe has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge, and a trial is scheduled for Sept. 19.

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.