MANATEE -- Something rare and dramatic occurred at Buccaneer Pawn Shop in the 3100 block of First Street at noon Thursday.
An East Manatee woman got back her 14-karat, Bismarck choker necklace in an emotional and improbable reunion after it had been stolen, pawned and sold.
“It’s a little bit of me that I got back,” said Liz Sullivan of Creekwood.
Sullivan has been pushing for tougher pawn shop regulations ever since the theft of roughly $20,000 worth of her jewelry from Jan. 2 to June 13, allegedly perpetrated by the woman dating her son.
Sullivan said she wants pawn shops to provide more accurate descriptions of items along with digital photographs.
But she never expected to see her second favorite piece again -- the Bismarck necklace with three bows -- because it had already been sold from the pawn shop and Florida law doesn’t require pawn customers to return stolen items, nor does it require pawn shops to contact them.
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