Police say "Magic Touch" Cleaners Stole Jewelry from Aquidneck Island Homes

The cleaning company is called A Magic Touch, but police said two women hired to clean houses on Aquidneck Island were actually touching — and taking — jewelry from homeowners who hired them.

Jacqueline Maloney, 26, and Kortnie Vickery, 26, are now facing felony larceny charges after MIddletown Police charged them for stealing items from homes they were working in and pawning the items for cash at pawn shops and jewelry stores throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The investigation by Middletown Police began around Aug. 3 when a resident reported that she hired A Magic Touch to clean her house and recently, Vickery and Maloney weren’t doing such a good job, coming late and often cancelling at the last minute.

The resident reported that she even caught them using her washing machine to clean dirty rags from other jobs.

On July 30, the woman came home to find Maloney and Vickery once again washing rags in her washing machine. She then left to run some errands and when she came back, she noticed the house had been barely cleaned and a pair of gold earrings, a tennis bracelet, necklace, pendant and a gold chain were missing from a jewelry box in her bedroom.

The total value of the stolen items was more than $3,200.

The resident then contacted a Newport woman who also had hired A Magic Touch and that woman told her that she actually found a single gold earring at her house which ended up being one of the items stolen from the jewelry box.

Police scoured pawn shop records and found that Maloney had pawned the items at Cash for Gold in Fall River.

On Aug. 4, police obtained the transaction record from the pawn shop and it included a copy of Maloney’s Massachusetts driver’s license.

Video surveillance showed that Maloney came into the shop with Vickery and on Aug. 7, police had obtained a warrant to arrest both women.

Newport police arrested Vickery at a house she was cleaning in Newport on Aug. 12 and police said she was found to be in possession of a blank check belonging to the Middletown woman who originally reported the jewelry theft along with a small clear bag of what appeared to be diamonds.

Maloney was arrested the same day by Middletown police and while in police custody, she reportedly told police that she and Vickery started their own company after they had been working for a different company for some time.

Maloney said they had been having financial problems recently and started stealing jewelry and pawning items they took from customers but insisted it was always Vickery who took the items, though she admitted pawning items herself.

Vickery reportedly told police that she was sorry for stealing and she was battling a drug problem and had been stealing items to support it.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and there may be additional victims. Anyone who has hired A Magic Touch is urged to check their homes and call police if items are discovered missing.

Any questions can be directed to Lt. Richard Gamache of Middletown police at rgamache@middletownri.com or 401-846-1144 ext. 7022.