George Pimintel/WireImage.comForget The Secret Life of Bees. Queen Latifah has apparently found herself in the company of some thieves.
The Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning star had thousands of dollars worth of baubles pilfered from her luxury villa on the Caribbean island of Tobago where she's been holed up for the Christmas holidays, E! News confirmed Wednesday.
Despite Latifah's desire for anonymity (the entertainer, real name Dana Owens, checked into Stone Haven Villas under the pseydonym Cynthia Hadden), management threw her a private barbecue brunch. When she returned to her villa, the jewelry—reportedly including a $10,000 bracelet, two gold rings, a gold chain and a silver ring—was MIA.
Police were called in after she alerted resort officials, and investigators believe the heist was an inside job, since there was no indication of any forced entry. Authorities have been interviewing a number of staffers.
According to a Stone Haven employee, not all the items taken belonged to the 38-year-old Last Holiday star, but to her companion, an unidentified family member.
There has been no official comment from Latifah, who was due to return to the U.S. sometime today but had yet to leave.
"She is still here," a Stone Haven staffer said this morning. "I cannot say when she is going to check out."
—Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz
(Originally published Dec. 31, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. PT.)