Police say The Shane Company in Alpharetta wasn't the only victim of an employee suspected of pocketing $1.2 million in jewels.

Suspect Sara Lane Tolar, 30, of Marietta had found a job at another jewelry store and, after working there only three weeks, had already absconded with two watches worth $17,000, police said.

(ENLARGE)

Sara Lane Tolar of Marietta is accused of stealing more than 'six figures' worth of jewelry from an Alpharetta Shane Company store over a five-month period.

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At the time of her arrest late last month, police were only aware of the Shane Co. case. Then, Tolar told them she was working at Capetown Diamond Corp. in Roswell.

"I didn't know she was working at the other jewelry store," said Alpharetta Detective Corey Miller.

Capetown Diamond Corp.'s management wasn't aware anything was missing from its inventory, Miller said.

Tolar is charged in the theft of $1.2 million in expensive pieces from The Shane Company and $17,000 from the other store.

She faces charges of theft by receiving and theft by deception after allegedly attempting to sell some of the stolen jewelry to a Marietta jewelry store on Good Friday.

Additional charges from Cobb County may be forthcoming, said Cobb Detective David Dunkerton.

Tolar remains in the Cobb County jail. Alpharetta police will present evidence to a grand jury this month.

Miller said Tolar apparently worked alone.

Tolar worked at the Shane Company for about 18 months, but was fired in February after a store audit, Miller said.

Tolar had been working at Capetown Diamond Corp. in Roswell for two or three weeks when she was arrested.

In February, a routine company-wide audit at The Shane Company showed a discrepancy of items in the books and items in-house, Miller said.

The company determined that Tolar had been responsible for inventorying all the pieces they believed were stolen, he said.

From state records, Miller learned Tolar had transactions with jewelry stores in Cobb County.

Miller alerted Dunkerton to be on the lookout for stolen jewelry that Tolar might be selling.

The next day, a jeweler in Marietta notified Dunkerton that a woman approached him about selling him some jewelry. When the woman returned, she was arrested.

A search of her car revealed stolen jewelry worth about $63,000, Miller said. It was then the woman confessed and said she was already working at another jewelry store, he said.

Dunkerton said Tolar named or described 14 places where she had sold items.

Thus far, about 50 pieces have been recovered, Miller said. He estimated their value to be in the six-figure range. Most of the pieces were valued between $2,500 and $15,000.

"Most of that will be gone," Dunkerton said. "After 30 days, the precious metal dealers will dismantle the pieces and melt down the gold and create their own or sell the scrap gold to a wholesaler."