Police: Paula Deen housekeeper charged with theft

SAVANNAH, GA Savannah-Chatham police tell the Savannah Morning News they went to Deen's Wilmington Island home on May 3 on a report of about $100,000 worth of men's and women's jewelry that had vanished within the past year.

Deen's husband Michael Anthony Groover told police the couple had caught housekeeper 47-year-old Mary Alice White with some jewelry and had fired her.

Authorities charged White on May 5 with theft. They say she was caught trying to pawn a pair of $18,000 earrings at a Savannah pawnshop.

When contacted by The Associated Press, White denied the allegations and hung up.