On Friday, Dec. 16, at 5:50 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were on foot patrol on the Third Street Promenade when they received a radio call informing them that the Old Navy located at 1232 Third Street Promenade was experiencing a fraud attempt. The officers navigated their way to store and apprehended a female suspect who was attempting to leave the store.
The officers spoke with the store manager who told the officers she had been attempting to purchase items using a fraudulent American Express card. During the course of the investigation, the “pirate” lied to the officers about who she was. The officers were able to identify her and told her who she really was, at which point she admitted that she had initially lied. The officers then searched her and discovered some other illegal booty, namely a number of counterfeit credit cards and a fake California driver’s license.
The officers arrested her and they sailed off to the Santa Monica jail, where this 49-year-old Los Angeles woman was charged with obtaining credit with another person’s identification, impersonating another person, forged handwriting, and possession of bad checks. Bail was set at $50,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
