[CPProt.net] Dallas police arrest jewelry theft suspect; Paralegal sought since property vanished from a law firm's vault

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Dallas police arrest jewelry theft suspect
Paralegal sought since property vanished from a law firm's vault
By PAIGE HEWITT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

A 44-year-old paralegal and convicted thief who disappeared last fall before
being charged with stealing valuable jewelry from a Houston law firm was
arrested by Dallas police Friday afternoon.

Tamara Janese Montgomery, who stopped showing up for work last October just
before managers at Dow Golub Berg & Beverly realized estate jewelry valued
at $25,000 was missing from the firm's vault, will be brought to Houston in
about a week, said Sgt. Rose Terry with the Houston Police Department.

Montgomery, who worked for the firm for two weeks, is charged with two
counts of felony theft and accused of pawning two pieces of the jewelry.

In 2002, when she worked for Calvin Richardson Verner Armstrong, Montgomery
pleaded guilty to stealing eight checks from the firm and forging and
cashing two of them for $800 each.

That same year, Montgomery was convicted of shoplifting and criminal
mischief - for kicking out a police car's window when she was arrested on
charges of public intoxication and having drug paraphernalia.

She was sentenced to four years probation, but after missing visits with her
probation officer, was sentenced to eight months in jail.

Montgomery, the mother of a teenager, told the judge she needed
rehabilitation for a drug problem so she could be a better parent.

Months later, Montgomery - who by then had moved out of an apartment near
Memorial and Dairy Ashford and was sleeping at shelters for battered women
and seedy motels - pleaded guilty to stealing jewelry valued at more than
$1,500 from a friend.

She was given deferred adjudication and four years probation.

Her probation was revoked, but before she was arrested, she went to work for
Dow Golub Berg and Beverly.

paigehewitt at chron.com.