2 Women Jailed in Counterfeit Cash Case

Two self-employed hairdressers have been arrested on suspicion of using $500 in counterfeit cash to buy clothes, lingerie and sundries at stores in the Janss Marketplace, police said Thursday.

Norwalk residents Charlette Johnson, 25, and Nina Walker, 29, were arrested Wednesday night after a Sears sales clerk was handed a fake $50 bill as payment for clothes, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Det. George Fitzgerald.

The clerk used a special pen to mark and check the bill for authenticity, the detective said. Shopping bags later found in Johnson’s car led deputies to other purchases made earlier that night at Ross, Rite-Aid and Mervyns, Fitzgerald said.

Both women remained jailed Thursday night, each in lieu of paying $10,000 bail, on suspicion of burglary, theft and conspiracy.

Arraignments were scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today, a sheriff’s deputy at the jail said.

Detectives were still investigating charges of passing counterfeit notes and forgery, Fitzgerald said.

“The money, we believe, is being produced by a friend of theirs in Los Angeles,” Fitzgerald said.

The women told deputies their friend’s counterfeiting operation is producing large amounts of fake cash. The detective said Los Angeles police would be contacted today.

Johnson has two prior felony convictions for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, and if convicted, she could face 25 years to life under the state’s “three strikes” law, Fitzgerald said.

In a Los Angeles court, a separate forgery case against Johnson and an assault and kidnapping case against Walker were pending, the detective said.