Police: Caregiver Wanted in Connection with Smyrna Thefts

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Cobb woman who allegedly stole more than $3,000 worth of electronics and other goods from a Smyrna home where she worked as a daytime caregiver.

After the homeowner hired Sarah Ann Dinkel to take care of her children, "periodically items would come up missing," a Smyrna police officer wrote in a Cobb County criminal warrant.

This went on from Oct. 1 until May 4, records show.

The last straw came on May 4 when the homeowner could not find her Wii gaming system and the A/V cables on the back of her TV were in disarray, according to the warrant.

The homeowner reported the theft, and provided a list of the other items that had gone missing since hiring Dinkel. The list included gaming systems and an iPad.

"An investigation revealed that Dinkel had pawned several of the items missing," the officer wrote in the warrant. "The total amount of the items that were confirmed to have been pawned is $3,060."

Smyrna police seized a Canon Z200 Camcorder, 2 Apple iPod Touch MP3 players, a Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader, a Black and Decker drill from Pawnmart, which resulted in a monetary loss to the pawn shop.

Dinkel faces charges of theft by taking greater than $1,500 and theft by by deception less than $1,500.