Nursing home worker accused of taking ring from deceased

For the second time this summer, DuPage County prosecutors charged a person in a position of trust with swiping jewelry from a deceased patient.

A 32-year-old nursing assistant remained jailed late Tuesday on $50,000 bond after she was charged with stealing a diamond engagement ring and 14-karat wedding band from an elderly woman after she died at a Wheaton nursing home.

Vanessa C. May of Bolingbrook was arrested Monday on a felony warrant alleging she committed theft at 8:30 p.m. July 28 while employed at Wynscape Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, court records showed.

In a similar highly publicized case, an Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital worker was arrested July 28 in Downers Grove after police said he admitted taking the wedding ring set off the finger of a 72-year-old Lombard cancer patient while moving her body to the morgue on July 2.

Frederick Tapley, 36, of Romeoville, confessed he sold the ring to a south suburban Lansing pawn store, where the shopkeeper was preparing to melt down the gold band, police said. Officers recovered the stolen jewelry, valued at $3,500.

May must post the required 10 percent, or $5,000, to be set free pending a court appearance later this month. Police said they were able to recover most of the jewelry in both cases.