Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies issued an arrest warrant for 31-year-old Ashley Hernandez after a new victim came forward with details that Hernandez also stole jewelry when she was hired to clean the victim's home. 

Hernandez, who owns her own cleaning business and advertises online, was arrested by the PCSO on February 18, 2026, and charged with felonies related to the theft and fraudulent pawning of jewelry from an elderly victim. Her arrest was published via news release and posted on the Sheriff's Office Facebook page.

On February 24th, a Mulberry woman contacted the PCSO after seeing Hernandez's arrest on Facebook, and reported that she hired Hernandez on three occasions -- January 26, February 13, and February 23-- to clean her home. She searched the house at that point and noticed a white gold ring valued at $2,500.00 was missing. The ring was kept in a small jewelry dish next to her bathroom sink. 

The victim positively identified the ring as property recovered by PCSO at Quick Cash Liquidators, where Hernandez had completed 12 separate fraudulent pawn transactions. The pawn shop provided the receipt for the pawned stolen ring, signed by Hernandez on January 28th; the receipt included a copy of her identification and her right thumbprint. 

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Hernandez with dealing in stolen property (F2), providing false owner information to a pawnbroker (F3), scheme to defraud (F3), and grand theft (F3). She was taken into custody on March 2, 2026.

This is Hernandez's third arrest since February 18th. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (see previous news release below) obtained a warrant for her arrest in their grand theft case, and she was picked up on that warrant by PCSO deputies on February 26, 2026. She posted bond and was released the next day. She still has pending charges in Hillsborough.  

“We would be willing to bet there are more victims out there. In fact, we arrested her on the 18th of February, she bonded out of jail on the 21st, and cleaned this new victim's home for a third time on the 23rd. If Ashley cleaned your home, she may have cleaned you out. Please check your valuables and contact us if you suspect she did the same to you.” - Grady Judd, Sheriff