West Des Moines Police: Suspect’s Version Didn’t Have a Truthful Ring to It

Police say a Prairie City woman’s version of events surrounding the disappearance of another woman’s property while the two waited in the West Des Moines Social Security Administration office had an untruthful ring to it.

Ivory Trenice Meyers of Pella told West Des Moines police that she removed her rings to play pat-a-cake with her nieces while waiting for an appointment March 13 with Social Security officials at the West Des Moines office, located at 1501 50th St.

Meyers said she placed the rings in her lap, and when she rose from the chair, one of the rings fell onto the floor. She said that when she realized it was gone a short time later and returned to the area where she had been sitting, the ring, which Meyers valued at $2,450, was gone.

So was a woman who was the only other person in the lobby at the time.

Meyers told police she thought the woman – later identified as a 44-year-old from Prairie City – had taken the ring. Surveillance video supported Meyers' suspicions, clearly showing the Prairie City woman “reach under the chair and pick up an object from the floor, and then immediately leave,” Officer Troy Shelley wrote in his report.

Shelley said that when he talked to the suspect, she denied having taken the ring. She admitted she reached down to retrieve something from the floor, but said it was gum, not a ring.

In a later conversation, Shelley wrote in his report, that the Prairie City woman admitted she had lied about taking the ring because there were several people with her when she took his call and she didn’t want them to know she had stolen the ring.

Shelley said the suspect claimed to have thrown the ring on the grass when leaving the building. A search turned up nothing.

Later in the day, the Prairie City woman agreed to return the ring to the West Des Moines Police Station. In addition to West Des Moines police officers, also present was Michael Goldberg, area commander from Federal Protective Service of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who was involved because the ring was allegedly stolen from a federal office.

At the time the Prairie City woman turned over the ring she claimed was Meyers’, she was wearing a ring on her left ring finger that matched the description of the missing ring, so police photographed it. Meyers said the ring the suspect returned was not hers, but the one she was wearing appeared to be the one that was missing.

Police said the investigation is continuing.