GOLDEN, Colo. – On Thursday, Sharon Pate was finishing up a long shift at work when she arrived home to find her front door barricaded shut and thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and other items stolen.
“I proceeded to be fearful,” said Pate. “I called 911 and told him, 'Look, I just tried to enter my home. The door is barricaded.' I walked around the back of the home. I saw that the door was cracked.”
After she saw that her back door was open, she ran back to her car and waited for police to arrive. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office confirmed that around $10,000 worth of valuables were taken from her home. This incident weighs on Pate, who just opened her own salon, Fantastic Sam’s on Leetsdale Drive in Denver, after forty years of cutting hair.
Making this even more difficult, one particularly cherished possession was among the missing items—her late mother’s ring.
“It's been passed down from my mother to me, and I'm going to pass it on to my granddaughter,” Pate said.
She thought it was lost forever until the following day when she cleaned up the previous night's chaos.
“I looked in the corner, and I saw it, and I had a little sense of peace for a minute,” she said. “I felt her love and felt her near, and was like, it's going to be okay. I've been violated, but it's going to be okay.”
Four incidents of burglary or theft have occurred in her small Golden-area neighborhood, and her case is still under investigation. Pate wanted to send a message directly to Jefferson County Deputy Stahl, who helped her out on that difficult evening.
“I want your family and your commander to know you did your job,” Pate said with tears in her eyes. “I felt really safe that night, and I just want to thank you. I wouldn't hug you because you had all that armor on, but I'll give you a virtual hug. But you know, thank you. You meant a lot to me that day.”
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