A St. John’s woman who went public in an effort to clear her name in connection with a theft investigation appeared in court twice this month, charged with similar but unrelated offences.
Amanda Oliver, 30, was eliminated as a suspect in a investigation into a break-in at a Portugal Cove Road convenience store, for which police had publicly released her photo. In April, she turned to the media to try and clear her name, saying she hoped the RNC would do the same, since her reputation had been damaged.
In an appeal to the public in March, the RNC had released photos of a woman and a man they believed were involved at a break-in at Elaine’s Convenience a month earlier. Sometime before 5 a.m. on Feb. 7, thieves broke into the store and made off with alcohol and pull-tab lottery tickets.
Surveillance footage from another store later the same day showed what police said was a couple cashing in the stolen lottery tickets. Asking anyone who could identify the suspects to contact them, the police released still shots of the woman and man to the media and posted them on their social media pages. The woman in the photo was Oliver.
Oliver said she went to police as soon as she was alerted to the news release, and was cleared as a suspect. Through their investigation, RNC officers determined Oliver had no involvement in the theft and removed her photo from their social media accounts. Police say the man in the photo was identified and later charged with two counts of possession of stolen property and two counts of breaching court orders in relation to the theft from the convenience store.
Related Link
St. John’s woman wants name cleared after police release her photo publicly
Oliver told reporters she had never had any involvement with the police before and didn’t know the man whose photo was also released, but had chatted to him briefly after he had held the door for her to walk into the store.
“Clearly I was there in the store, but I did not know the gentleman that was next to me,” she said at the time. “I did not know him and I didn’t engage in a great conversation with this person. I was just there purchasing my own tickets, which were scratch tickets and had nothing involved with the robbery.”
The man charged in connection with the theft is Jordan Mousseau-Mitchell, and he appeared in court briefly on Friday. Photos posted to Oliver’s public Instagram account as recently as this weekend revealed she and Mousseau-Mitchell were in a long-term relationship.
Oliver told The Telegram Sunday she does not believe Mousseau-Mitchell is the man shown in the surveillance footage next to her.
“It’s possible it was him but I didn’t recognize him. He had been off the chart and I hadn’t seen him in four or five years,” she later said, adding she had visited Mousseau-Mitchell in prison but didn’t realize he was charged with the lotto ticket theft.
Oliver is facing four charges from two separate incidents: a charge of possessing property stolen from Long and McQuade on June 6, 2017 and a charge of defrauding Traders the next day, as well as a charge of theft under $5,000 from Dominion and a breach of court orders on March 26.
A warrant for her arrest was issued last August and executed Feb. 13, when she contacted the RNC. She was released from custody with a number of conditions.
Oliver has no criminal record.
Oliver made two court appearances on the charges in recent days. She pleaded not guilty to the possession of stolen property and fraud charges and will go to trial on those matters Aug. 14. She will make her next court appearance on the theft and court order breach charges June 27.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
