White Gym Manager Who Falsely Accused Black Woman of Stealing Ring Has Prior Arrest on Charges of Breaking Into Homes to Steal Jewelry

Turns out the white man who accused a Black woman of stealing a ring from a Northern California gym has been arrested himself on felony burglary charges, accused of kicking in doors and smashing windows to enter residential homes to steal jewelry.

“That is the ironic part,” said Sydney LaDay in a Zoom video interview with Atlanta Black Star which is posted above.

“Who are you to tell me I’ve stolen a ring when you are a felon and have a history of burglary and theft of jewelry?”

LaDay, 33, a real estate agent and interior designer in San Mateo County, was falsely accused of stealing a woman’s ring while visiting the HOTWORX gym in Belmont on Feb. 10 as a guest with a friend who was a member.

Neal Lundy III, manager of his father’s franchise, texted her the following day that he had video evidence of her stealing the ring. But that was a lie because the ring’s owner later claimed she had found it at home.

“I have you on camera taking the ring and putting it in your pants,” he texted her the day after she had attended the gym as a guest.

“If you bring the ring back by 7 p.m. today, nothing else will happen. That ring is definitely over a $1,000 which makes stealing it a felony.”

Lundy’s Prior Arrests

Perhaps Lundy was speaking from personal experience because he was arrested in January 2016 by the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office, which accused him of breaking into three homes, according to a press release issued by the sheriff’s office at the time.

However, there is no record of Lundy’s burglary arrest in the San Mateo Superior Court online search portal even though there are records of Lundy’s other arrests on drug-related charges as well as a few traffic infractions, indicating he had the burglary charge expunged which his father confirmed in a telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star.

“Everything was expunged, so there is no case technically,” said Neil Lundy Jr., who is the franchise owner of the gym.

“He made some mistakes when he was young. But he has turned that over, and he’s doing everything he can to help people, all people, period. Rich, poor, white, Black, Latino, it doesn’t matter.”

But record of his burglary arrest remains online with the press release along with a couple of news articles from 2016.

Online court records also show he was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in November 2015 – the same month authorities alleged he broke into the three homes in very affluent areas of San Mateo County, listed as the fourth-wealthiest county in the country, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

That case was dismissed under a “negotiated plea” but details of that plea deal are not included in the online court records. Since then, his only brushes with the law are traffic infractions, so perhaps he is making a genuine effort to stay out of trouble.

Accusatory Text Messages

Last month, Lundy became the subject of viral videos posted by LaDay on TikTok showing him accusing LaDay of stealing the ring, claiming a wrinkle in the pants she was wearing was a “bulge” where she had hidden the ring.

LaDay said she experienced a wave of emotions reading the text messages, feeling shocked, angered, insulted, stressed, anxious and terrified because she had been looking forward to signing up for the gym to workout with her friend.

“It caught me completely off guard,” LaDay said. “And then when he said, ‘I have you on camera,’ I’m like what? How can he have me on camera doing anything I didn’t do?”

Then her friend who was a member of the gym called her from the gym, telling LaDay that Lundy was threatening to call the police on her for stealing the ring.

“And I’m like, I’m just going to go down there because this is getting out of hand, I don’t want him sending the police to my house, I don’t know what else he is capable of because he already has my phone number and texting me this crazy stuff.”

Once she arrived, Lundy showed her the video, which only showed LaDay in the general area where the woman had claimed she had left the ring. LaDay is certain the woman is white, even though Lundy never confirmed that.

But Lundy never saw the actual ring on the woman’s finger nor did he see her place it in the cubby where she had claimed she left it, only for it to go missing. It was only after she had gotten home that she realized she had never taken the ring to the gym in the first place because she had left it at home.

However, Lundy did take her word without evidence while refusing to take LaDay’s word she did not steal the ring.

“Did she have the ring on her finger?” asked LaDay’s friend.

“Yes, ring on her finger, put it in the cubby, and then she left and it was gone,” he responded. “I’m just trying to find a lady’s ring.”

“That’s not the way you go about it,” said LaDay. “That method is racist and discriminatory. You pinpointed me specifically.”

Lundy Jr., the father, said he felt horrible about the situation but also claimed his son would have reacted the same way if the woman in the video had been white. He also said he has implemented policies to prevent something like that from ever happening again.

“It wasn’t a case of racial profiling,” he said. “The woman in question was contacted because our security footage showed her as the only person in the same cubby area where a member reported losing a ring just moments before.”

“And we acknowledged she was wrongfully accused, and we sincerely apologized for that several times. We regret any distress that may have caused her.”

Father Confirms No Video Evidence

Eventually, Lundy’s father shows up and takes a look at the video and realizes there is nothing on the video showing LaDay stealing the ring.

“That’s it?” the father said after watching the video. “You can’t tell anything from that, so you can’t accuse anybody. I think you owe them an apology.”

And the younger Lundy agreed with his father despite his certainty that he had solid evidence to implicate LaDay, telling his father that he had already apologized several times but the apologies were not accepted.

“At this point, does an apology make any difference after all the stress that this has caused?” LaDay asked.

“I don’t see you grabbing anything; I don’t see a ring in your hand,” the father told LaDay.

The father also apologized, hoping that would resolve the issue, but LaDay posted several videos of her experience on TikTok and a 45-minute video on YouTube of her interaction with the father and son. She has since received a cease-and-desist letter ordering her to stop posting videos because he believes she was violating California law by recording him on private property without his consent.

But not only did his son give her permission to record inside the gym the previous day when she was working out, California’s “two-party consent” law that forbids recording others without their consent does not apply to conversations in areas where people do not have an expectation of privacy. In this case, people were entering and leaving the gym during the entire conversation between them, meaning anybody else could easily overhear the conversation.

So, she has ignored the warning and is also considering taking legal action.

“I have the NAACP that has reached out to me, so they’re assisting me with the proper steps to take next, so I’m exploring those options,” she said.