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Upper East Side Socialite's Complaint Launches NYPD Investigation

By DNAinfo Staff on March 28, 2011 8:55am

Toni Goodale (R) here with husband James, reportedly spurred an NYPD investigation after complaining to commissioner Ray Kelly that officers at the 19th Precinct weren't doing enough to find her stolen jewels.
Toni Goodale (R) here with husband James, reportedly spurred an NYPD investigation after complaining to commissioner Ray Kelly that officers at the 19th Precinct weren't doing enough to find her stolen jewels.
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Scott Gries/Getty Images

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — An Upper East Side socialite's complaint that police officers weren't doing enough to find her stolen jewels found a receptive audience in Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the New York Post reported.

Toni Goodale, 70, an Upper East Side socialite and Democratic Party fundraiser, told Kelly about her frustrations in dealing with police after having nearly $200,000 worth of jewels stolen when they met at a holiday party late last year, the Post reported.

Kelly reportedly had four officers from the 19th Precinct questioned and made the case a top priority. Some members of the department and Goodale said the grilling wasn't necessary.

"I, of course, feel remorse that some detectives are now under review," Goodale told the Post.

Goodale's husband, James Goodale, an attorney, said they were forced to hire a private investigator to find the jewels due to the police's slow response after reporting the jewels missing from their East 80th Street home in January of 2010.

"The cops have done nothing, it seems to me," James Goodale told the paper.

Officials with the NYPD said that the investigation into the missing jewels was standard response to resident complaints.

"Commissioner Kelly responds to citizen complaints from the poorest precincts to the richest, and the 19th is not exempt from the bureau's monthly review of 10 to 15 cases in all other squads, some randomly and some based on complaints," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement to the paper.