Coach Purse with Wedding Ring Inside Goes Missing

A formerly homeless co-worker is accused of taking a woman's purse Monday that contained both her cell phone and her wedding ring.

Dominique Buie, 35, of Mount Pleasant, was charged Wednesday in Racine County Circuit Court with a single count of felony theft-moveable property and faces up to 7-1/2 years imprisonment and up to $10,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman was at work at O & H Bakery in the 1800 block of Douglas Avenue Monday. She went out for a cigarette and when she went back into work, she put her purse on a desk organizer in the office. When she went back to the office at the end of her shift, the purse was gone.

Racine Police were flagged down at 7:10 p.m. so the victim could make a report.

The designer purse, worth about $60 on its own, contained the victim's wedding ring valued at $5,000 and her iPhone, worth an estimated $750, according to police reports. Her ID and her bank card were also inside the purse. The criminal complaint states that the victim cancelled her bank card as soon as she realized her purse was gone.

With her co-workers, the woman searched the premises but could not locate her missing purse. A human resources employee retrieved security video footage from cameras inside the bakery.

Together, the woman and the police viewed the video that reportedly showed Buie take the purse from the organizer at the end of his shift when he was punching out. The victim told officers that she knew the suspect because they went to high school together and she was happy that he was getting his life together after being homeless.

Buie remains in the Racine County Jail on a $500 cash bond. His preliminary hearing is Oct. 4 before Court Commissioner Alice A. Rudebusch.