A 39-year-old Rochester man has pleaded not guilty to stealing jewelry worth thousands of dollars from a Racine home.

According to court complaints, Chad Lee Hatton allegedly stole several pieces of jewelry, including a gold Concord watch worth $3,500 and a gold necklace with diamonds worth $2,799 from a Racine couple on May 15 after a floor tiling installation job he took part in.

The couple reported the jewels, along with $250 missing from a drawer, to the police the next day.

Mower County Sheriff deputies investigated the floor tiling company, along with the subcontractors that hired Hatton, after they heard the contractors were involved in another floor installation job where the homeowners reported missing jewelry.

Deputies found Hatton had pawned 83 items, mostly jewelry, since April 2013. They reviewed security footage at Pawn America and found Hatton had pawned several of the Racine couple’s jewelry on May 16 and 17.

Hatton was arrested in Olmsted County while on another installation job. Officers found jewelry in his pocket at the time of arrest.