SHATTERED Sharon Stone wept openly when she learned that the housekeeper she had trusted for the last five years was charged with stealing $300,000 worth of valuables from her home.

"Sharon broke down in tears when she discovered this woman could have betrayed her," says a source. "She'd trusted this woman for five years."

"Some of the items had great sentimental value for her. She cringed at the idea of someone going through her things and stealing her prized possessions."

The L.A. district attorney's office alleges Socorro Del Carmen Membrano, 48, hauled away the actress' designer clothes, shoes and jewelry, including a $17,000 Bulgari necklace, from her L.A. home.

Membrano pleaded innocent to a charge of grand theft and bail was set at $300,000.

"Ms. Stone noticed her things were disappearing over time," Deputy District Attorney Robert Savitt tells GLOBE. "At first she thought she'd misplaced them.

"But when Ms Stone's agent went to Membrano's home to terminate the housekeeper for another reason, he saw Ms. Stone's stuff there and notified authorities."

Luckily, Stone, who lives in San Francisco with her newpaper-editor hubby Phil Bronstein and uses her L.A. pad as a second home, got her pricey items back, but still feels violated, the source reveals.

"It will be a long time before Sharon trusts an employee with her most treasured things again."