Two accused burglars were caught Monday while they were trying to get cash for the gold they stole.

“She was very, very happy,” Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Back said of the victim of the crime. “She got the majority of her stuff back. She was ecstatic.”

The father-and-son team, Ray and Michael Cornett, pleaded not guilty to their crime in court Tuesday morning.

Back said the men allegedly broke into a County Farm Road home while a mother and her children were at church Sunday. They reportedly went into the mother’s bedroom and stole her high school and college rings, wedding bands, diamond earrings, necklaces, other jewelry and three gold coins. They also took a .25-calibre automatic pistol, along with a “bucket that had been full of change,” Back said.

Back estimated the jewelry was worth about $1,000. The gold coins were valued at about $1,500 each.

The mother called police, heartbroken over the losses.

“She was distraught, crying,” Back said. “The gold coins were bought by her mother for her and her kids.”

Back kicked off his investigation and suggested the woman visit area jewelry stores and pawn shops to see if any of her bangles had turned up there.

Following that advice, she saw the men trying to sell her jewelry and coins for scrap about noon Monday. While the Cornetts were still in the jewelry store, the woman called Back and he arrested the men.

“One subject stated he’d purchased the jewelry even though he knew the deal was too good to be true,” Back said. “The other said he didn’t know where they got it ... Their stories didn’t match. And one subject had been convicted of burglary before.”

Back also found more jewelry in the glove box of the Cornetts’ car, the gun and the empty bucket that had held the change.

Back arrested Michael Cornett, 32, of Finley Trailer Park, with one count of first-degree burglary, one count of possession of a firearm by convicted felon and one count of carrying a concealed deadly weapon.

Ray Cornett, 60, of Finley Trailer Park, was charged with one count of receiving stolen property (firearm), one count receiving stolen property under $10,000, one count of carrying a concealed deadly weapon, and three counts of failure to appear.

Ray and Michael Cornett are being held at the Laurel County Detention Center. Michael Cornett is being held on a $25,000 cash bond. Ray Cornett is being held on a $20,000 fully secured bond.

Back continues his investigation.

Staff writer Tara Kaprowy can be reached by e-mail at tkaprowy@sentinel-echo.com.v