The
Solvang Sheriff’s station had its own version of Spike TV’s craziest criminals
after a woman claimed that the suspect wanted in connection with an Oct. 9
grand theft was not she, but her twin sister, now believed by police to be
fictional.
The
bizarre incident began with the woman, 40-year-old Michelle Yvette Jordan, entering
the Lady Bug Boutique in Santa Ynez. After asking questions, placing a shoe
order and holding other items, Jordan
walked out of the store.
Store
employee Maryanne Christensen afterward accused Jordan of taking with her a brown Kooba purse and a long-sleeved, cranberry-colored shirt
without paying for them. Both items together were valued at nearly $700.
Lady
Bug employee Julianne Savard said that she heard
about the incident and recalled a similar prior incident, but she didn’t
remember anything being stolen.
“I
remember that someone had come into the store before and put some things on the
counter and said she would be right back, but never came back,” she said. “I
wonder if it was the same lady.”
Though
Christensen was not able to see if the woman had the items in her possession as
she was leaving the store, she noted Jordan’s appearance and vehicle.
Christensen then called police, who were able to identify Jordan through a local records check, which
revealed that Jordan
had been connected with a forgery case dating back to December 2006.
According
to the police report, after explaining to Jordan
why he was calling, Deputy Frank Vasquez said that Jordan was “polite” and offered to
be cooperative. While conversing with Vasquez,
Jordan
reportedly said, “Oh my god, she is doing it again,” referring to someone she
identified as her twin sister, whose name she gave as Rochelle Stone.
Jordan claimed that Stone was the one who
stole the items from the boutique, and was the real person who was guilty of
fraud in the December case. Jordan
then told police she would attempt to contact her sister, who, she said,
offered to sell her the stolen merchandise.
But
when Jordan
called Vasquez back, she could not verify her sister’s whereabouts; she claimed
that another person, whom she identified as her sister’s friend, “Cheryl,” had
the stolen items. When Vasquez asked to meet with Cheryl and Jordan, Jordan
told the officer she would have to call him back because she needed to check
first with Cheryl; she later said that Cheryl was “nervous and did not want to
meet with him.” Jordan
did, however, provide Vasquez with Cheryl’s supposed phone number, which proved
inoperable.
In
the meantime, Vasquez contacted the Chumash Casino staff in the hopes that it
would turn up a photo of Jordan’s
sister Stone, but was disappointed. The casino staff was able to identify only Jordan, not
Stone.
At
around 12:15 a.m. Jordan
met with Vasqeuez at the Albertson’s in Orcutt, after yet another telephone conversation. She
turned over the property that was identified as the same property reported
missing by the Lady Bug. When he confronted Jordan
about the false alibis and runarounds, Jordan continued to blame the incident
on her twin sister, Stone.
“I
informed Jordan
about ‘Cheryl’ and told her the number she provided
was inoperable, and therefore it was not believable she spoke to her to arrange
a meeting [to turn over] the property. [She] started to get upset and started
to make more inconsistent statements contradicting explanations she made [previously],”
Vasquez’ police report says.
Jordan continued to claim that she was in Santa Barbara at the time
of the incident. She even claimed that she and Stone were twin sisters after
Vasquez informed her that the only Rochelle Stone he could find had a different
birthday than Jordan.
She was taken to the Santa Barbara County Jail Oct. 9.
“Through
the course of this investigation, it appeared that they were both the same
person and Stone is simply an alias. When looking at Jordan’s CDI printout, Stone is a
listed alias,” says the police report.
Though
attempts were made to contact Jordan,
she could not be reached at her last listed telephone number.
The
number Jordan
gave to police for Cheryl turned out to be a wrong number.
All
the merchandise was returned to the Lady Bug Boutique, with price tags still
attached.
“It’s
crazy I can’t believe that people do this kind of stuff,” employee Savard said.
