Police close case alleging two women stole wedding dress from Simi Valley store
Simi Valley Police were searching for two women who reportedly stole a wedding dress from a bridal store in Simi Valley earlier this month.
However, following a brief investigation, authorities deduced that no crime was committed after learning of a series of unfortunate circumstances that led to false allegations.
The alleged theft was said to have occurred on April 9 at Kay's Bridal in the 4400 block of Alpine Street, where a pair of women were believed to have posed as the owners of a wedding dress that was ready for pickup, which they took before leaving the store.
When an SVPD officer began the investigation, he followed their standard procedure in issuing a press release with information on the alleged crime, with suspect descriptions, which was then shared on several SVPD social media websites.
On Thursday, the authorities were contacted by the two women who were described in the press release, who explained that the dress was given to them by the business owner by mistake and that they did not steal it.
Upon hearing from the women, officers contacted the business owner who confirmed the mistake. Thursday's statement detailed how "obviously upset" the business owner was, explaining that "she simply gave the wrong dress to an innocent person who was in the store to retrieve lawfully purchased property."
The SVPD statement continued to note,
"This entire event was simply the result of an unfortunate set of circumstances brought about by the business owner when she mistakenly believed that she had been defrauded.
It is essential for the community to understand that sometimes after suspected crimes are reported, new information is provided that clarifies an event. In this case, the two persons in the photograph have been cleared of any wrongdoing. They did not commit a criminal act, display malice, or civil misconduct."