Housekeeper Pleads Guilty To Stealing From Va. Client

A Fairfax County woman faced with losing her home admitted yesterday that she stole from those who allowed her into theirs.

Mirian Martinez, 47, a housekeeper who worked under the company name Mirian Cleaning Services, had built a client list of families in Northern Virginia and was viewed as reliable and hardworking. But then several families started missing things: money, prescription medication, jewelry -- all gone.

Martinez, a legal resident from El Salvador, had been working as a housekeeper for 13 years, and this was her first encounter with the law, her attorney, Anna Livingston, said. Although "there is no excuse for her behavior," she added, there is an explanation, and it will be presented at sentencing.

Caught like many others in the housing crisis, Martinez was facing foreclosure on her home in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County when she committed the crimes, her attorney said.

"She was extremely desperate at the time this happened," Livingston said. "One thing she told the detective was she was afraid of losing her house."

In all, Martinez is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of items, including a $42,000 ring from a Fairfax woman. An Arlington County detective said records at First Cash Pawn on North Glebe Road in Arlington show that Martinez pawned as many as 200 items there in a little over a year.

Martinez pleaded guilty in Arlington Circuit Court to one count of grand larceny and entered an Alford plea on a second count, which is an acknowledgement that there is enough evidence to convict her. Livingston said Martinez plans to plead guilty to grand larceny charges in Loudoun and Fairfax counties.

"The victim began noticing items of clothing were missing," Arlington Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Fran O'Brien told the court. "She checked her jewelry box and noticed items were missing from there, too."

The jewelry, worth about $1,600, and other items were found at a pawnshop and at the house where Martinez lived, O'Brien said.

As Judge William T. Newman Jr. questioned Martinez before accepting her plea, she spoke in a whisper that was made audible only through an interpreter. The highest grade she had completed in school was sixth, she answered.

"She takes responsibility completely for everything that has gone on," Livingston said. "She is extremely remorseful."

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on the Arlington charges Feb 6. Each grand larceny charge is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison.

In all, five clients reported items missing to police, including a Loudoun woman who said in August that she had employed Martinez for 11 years and recommended her to friends. The family did not want to believe Martinez was responsible for its missing belongings, the woman said. But after a Tiffany charm bracelet disappeared in May, the client fired Martinez and called police.

The bracelet was later found at the pawnshop.

"We should have paid more attention when we started to have suspicions that something just wasn't right," the Loudoun woman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because her case is pending.