EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -
Pawn shops now have to wait ten days before selling jewelry that they buy. Evansville City Council passed that ordinance Monday night to better protect theft victims.
Before now, secondhand stores only had to wait 72 hours to sell fine jewelry.
With the high price of precious metals, especially gold, more and more resale shops are popping up around Evansville.
Goldman's Pawn Shop is a treasure on 4th street. Bob Goldman is a 4th generation pawn broker.
"The store's been here over 100 years," Goldman said.
But now Mr. Goldman and all the rest will have to wait seven days longer before selling jewelry.
City council members passed that ordinance Monday night with a vote of 8 to 0. Two city council members say they were asked by police to allow more time for investigations.
"By the time police officers could even go to the pawn shop to see what was going on, the stolen materials were already melted down," said city council member Missy Mosby.
"If you're home is broke into and your jewelry is stolen, it gives you ten days," said city council member Jonathan Weaver.
Goldman says he's in favor of the ordinance as long as all precious metal dealers are treated the same.
City council members say it will include out of town operations, those so called treasure hunters who come to town for a limited time.
Goldman says the ordinance will protect the public, but he does say it may affect the price pawn shops are willing to pay for fine jewelry, especially with changing gold prices.
"It would probably make us a little more careful to not pay quite as much knowing we have to hold onto it for ten days," Goldman said.
City council members say this ordinance also forces all pawn shops to electronically submit records to the police on all the items they receive each day.
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