RIVERSIDE — A 66-year-old United Parcel Service employee suspected of diverting goods from the Riverside UPS distribution center where she worked to her daughters' homes is due in court next month, a lieutenant said Thursday.

Donna May of Devore was jailed at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility on suspicion of grand theft and embezzlement on Oct. 3, following an eight-month investigation, according to Riverside police Lt. Victor Williams.

She was released the following day in lieu of $5,000 bail and is due at the Riverside courthouse on Nov. 3 for arraignment, he said.

The investigation began at the distribution center at 1391 Spruce St. in Riverside, where May worked, the lieutenant said.

“The investigation revealed a 20-year UPS employee was involved in an elaborate theft scheme in which items being shipped through the UPS facility would be diverted to another location where criminals, whom the items were not intended for, would receive them,” Williams said.

The homes, those of May's daughters, were being used as drop-off points for stolen items such as laptop computers, hand-held electronics, televisions, furniture, paintings, cutlery, kitchen appliances and other items, investigators allege.

Riverside police Detective Kevin Townsend said the daughters told him they thought their mother was ordering items to furnish a new home, since her old one had burned down.

The retail value of the goods amounted to more than $25,000, he said.