DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit woman is now on a mission to clear her name. Police are sharing a photo of her saying she was suspected of stealing a catering order. She says it was a big misunderstanding.
It was around two weeks ago that Janice Jones picked up a catering order at Amore da Roma. She says her company and the restaurant told her the order was paid for. So when she saw herself on the news, she was in shock.
"It cost me my reputation and I did nothing wrong,” Jones said.
Detroit police sent a photo and video of Jones to media outlets. Police stated she had placed a large catering order over the phone with Amore Da Roma. It was reported that Jones told the restaurant she would call back with a credit card number and that instead she picked up the order without paying.
Jones says that's not how it went down.
“I am all over the news for $140 that was not paid,” Jones said.
She said on Feb. 12, she called Amore Da Roma to confirm an order a coworker of hers had placed. Jones was tasked to pick up the order for her company, the Team Wellness Center.
“When I called I asked, 'do you have an order for Team Wellness Center?' They said 'no,'" Jones said. "And I said, 'OK, do you have an order for Janice Jones?' They said 'yes.' So now that it is in my name I wanted to verify, I said, 'well, is this order paid for?' They said 'yes.'”
Jones says she added an item to the order, picked the order up and left the restaurant. Two weeks later, a friend called Jones.
“I am looking and there is a woman on the news who looks just like you,” the friend told Jones.
Jones says her boss told her that the coworker tasked with paying for the order, forgot. The restaurant told 7 Action News that it will not be making a comment at this time.
Jones said her work informed her that the food has since been paid for.
"I do hope that the people involved, Team Wellness Center, Roma and the police do a better job of checks and balances before somebody else gets hurt for their mistakes," Jones said.
