Woman Arrested For Swiping $8,500 Ring Left At Restaurant

CLEARWATER, FL -- Clearwater Police have charged a woman with grand theft after she reportedly took an engagement ring that had been mistakenly left on a table by a diner at a restaurant.

Barbara Beaud, 46, was booked in to the Pinellas County Jail l Friday, July 27 and released later in the day on $2,000 bail.

Police were called to Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on Clearwater Beach at about 3 p.m. after a diner said she had accidentally left her $8,500 engagement ring on the table when she had left the restaurant. She had apparently placed the ring on the table while she put on lotion, and then forgot to put it back on.

Beaud, who was visiting from Switzerland, was dining with her family at a nearby table and noticed the ring. She reportedly took it from the table instead of turning it in, and then she and her family left the restaurant.

Officers arrived at Frenchy's a short time later and viewed surveillance video from the restaurant showing Beaud taking the ring. Within about an hour, officers were able to find Beaud walking along Mandalay Avenue.

The ring was returned to its owner.

Image via Clearwater Police

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