Police are investigating a jewelry theft at former Utah Olympic boss and one-time presidential candidate Mitt Romney's posh Park City mansion.
Park City police said Wednesday that someone stole nearly 20 pieces of jewelry from the mansion on the 3800 block of Rising Star Lane sometime between Jan. 5 and Feb. 17, when the theft was reported to authorities by Romney's wife, Ann.
"They still live there," Park City Police Capt. Rick Ryan said. "They've been back and forth, and Mrs. Romney was actually looking for that jewelry on that day. She was preparing to leave and discovered it was gone."
The jewelry was taken from a bedroom closet, Ryan said. There was no forced entry to the home, leading detectives to focus on some maintenance crews hired by the Romney family.
"We've started to talk with some of the individuals involved and the people who know some of the individuals who were working there," he said.
Police are working with the Romney family to get photos and a list of the jewelry taken so they can alert jewelry stores and pawn shops. Ryan said the value of the stolen jewels has not been assessed yet.
"I doubt that any of it's Zirconium," he said. "It would be a fairly substantial loss."
Anyone with information on the theft is urged to call Park City police at 435-615-5500.
Romney recently placed the 11-acre, 9,500-square-foot, seven-bedroom, 81/2-bathroom property with views of Jordanelle and the Uinta Mountains up for sale — asking a mere $5.25 million for it.
The property has been the subject of controversy before. It was his home during the years leading up to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and Romney paid property taxes on the home as his "primary residence" between 1999 and 2001 and got a tax discount.
That created problems when Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts when questions were raised about his residency (Romney said Massachusetts was his home) until it was blamed on a clerical error by the Summit County Assessor's Office and Romney paid the discount.
E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com