Bad checks showing up in antique, dress shops
By Rebecca Ray
A female suspect, possibly with the help of a male partner, has been using bad checks to steal jewelry and clothes at stores in Los Gatos and Saratoga.
On Oct. 26, the suspect used a bad check with the name "L.J. Oliveira" to pay for a watch worth more than $800 at M.E. Benson's Antiques in Saratoga, after an employee failed to check for identification, said Public Information Officer Sgt. John Hirokawa of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office.
Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department Detective Steve Wahl said the suspect hit Los Gatos antique store Antiquarium and dress shop Nuance of Los Gatos on the same day. At Nuance, where the employee also failed to ask for identification, the suspect signed a bad check "Luciana Jorge Oliveira" for a $172.12 hand-painted silk outfit and scarf.
When Antiquarium co-owner Shirley Henderson asked to see the suspect's identification, the suspect showed her a passport, which she quickly put away, according to Henderson. Then she said she would come back for the crystal beads she was looking at and left. She never returned, Henderson said.
According to Wahl, the suspect went to Nickelbee's Antiques in Cupertino the same day and asked to see two diamond rings. The owner, Joyce Oglesbee, told the sheriff's office that she looked hard at the suspect, and the suspect left. She said she remembered the woman visiting the store before and leaving when she asked her for identification.
At Nickelbee's the next day, a man asked to look at the same two rings. When the employee took them out of the case, the man grabbed them and ran away.
The sheriff's office has a composite sketch of the female suspect, based on descriptions provided by witnesses. Hirokawa said the suspect is approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs about 130 pounds, is approximately 40 years old, is Hispanic and might have blonde hair.
Henderson and Nuance owner Holly Isle gave the LG-MSPD a description that had some similarities except that the suspect looked to be in her 20s.
The suspect also wore a suit, fake leather jacket, a hat with a headband that covered her hair and lots of jewelry and makeup, Isle said.
"She looked really out-of-place," Isle said. "She was really overdressed for someone in Los Gatos."
Isle said the suspect seemed knowledgeable about the Los Gatos area and knew what businesses were for sale and how much rents were.
After the suspect left Nuance, Denise Harr, Henderson's daughter and Antiquarium co-owner, called Isle and warned her not to accept a check from the suspect. Then Isle called the main line for Wells Fargo, the bank on the check, and was informed that the Luciana Jorge Oliveira's account didn't have sufficient funds to cover the check, she said.
Sheriff's detectives do not know if Luciana Jorge Oliveira is their suspect's real name. They are still trying to determine if the person who wrote the check to Benson's is the same person who owns the account.
According to Hirokawa, the name, address and phone number on the check given to Benson's appeared to be false. The Sheriff's Department was told by people living at the Sunnyvale address on the check that they did not know a person named Oliveira and that they had lived there for two years.
The license number the suspect wrote on the check given to Benson's was also false. When Wahl tried to obtain a driver's license photo from the DMV, the DMV said that although the name Luciana Jorge Oliveira was listed with that number, there was no picture, and no license was issued. Wahl thinks the suspect might have tried to register at one time. The DMV also said there was no identification card under that number or name.
The DMV had an East Palo Alto address listed for Oliveira, which LGPD detectives are still investigating.
No one in Santa Clara County has ever been booked under the name Luciana Jorge Oliveira, Wahl said.
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
