Car wash employee accused of stealing engagement ring from customer’s vehicle in Delaware

A car wash employee in Delaware is accused of stealing an engagement ring from a customer’s vehicle and attempting to pawn it.

According to the Delaware State Police, on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, troopers were called to the Magic Car Wash, located at 3221 Naamans Road in Wilmington, after receiving a report of a theft.

Police reported that after a customer had their car washed, their engagement ring was missing from inside the car, where they had mistakenly left it.   

Troopers interviewed several car wash employees, including Jose Gonzales-Morales, 24, of Wilmington, but could not find the ring.

Police later learned the victim had distributed flyers with a photo of the missing ring to local pawn shops just in case someone tried to pawn it. 

“That effort proved to be successful,” police wrote in a news release.

A week later, on Monday, Feb. 23, Gonzales-Morales attempted to pawn the ring at a Wilmington-area shop, according to police.

The pawn shop owner, who had received the flyer, recovered the ring and returned it to the victim, police said.

On Saturday, Feb. 28, police arrested Gonzales-Morales without incident and charged him with theft and providing a false statement to law enforcement.