On Sunday, Aug. 6, at 9:11 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called to the La Sandia restaurant, located at 395 Santa Monica Place in order to deal with a customer who had eaten a meal but was refusing to pay.
The officers, upon speaking with the suspect, a 38-year-old woman, in an investigative manner, determined that this woman had ordered and eaten the meal aware of the fact that she did not have the means to pay for it.
It was also discovered that this woman had performed the very same act, in the very same restaurant approximately one week prior to this incident.
La Sandia staff were desirous of an arrest, so the officers did so, but this woman gave the officers a fictitious name.
The officers eventually discovered the woman’s true identity, and she was whisked off to jail where she was charged with defrauding an innkeeper and providing false information to the police.
The bail for this homeless woman was set at $5,000.
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