Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Alex Cabrero reporting"It's sad a young person like this would do this and get in this kind of trouble."
A woman thought the airline had lost her luggage, until clues started leading to a possible robbery.
It is Friday the 13th. And this story is pretty strange.
Of all the consignment stores in the Salt Lake Valley, the woman's clothes ended up in the store right next to her parents' store.
The woman came to the Clothes Horse, which is right next door to her parents' alteration shop, to get new clothes because she thought hers were gone for good. But in just a couple of days, her lost clothes made their way to the store.
Consignment stores are a great place to get a bargain. And Monica Fatolahi needed one.
Monica Fatolahi: "I had a tank top on, I had absolutely no clothes."
She's been wearing the same clothes for three days, not because she likes that sort of thing, but because she thought her luggage coming here from California got lost.
Monica Fatolahi: "I was really upset."
Her mother owns this alteration store next door to a consignment store, so Monica went in to get new clothes.
Kelly Dodson, "Clothes Horse": "She told us about her luggage being stolen."
Workers at the Clothes Horse felt really bad, because the clothes Monica lost were really expensive.
Kelly Dodson, "Clothes Horse": "This is a few thousand."
But about an hour after Monica left, a man walked in with some expensive clothes to sell.
Kelly Dodson, "Clothes Horse": "At first, we were thinking no girl would give these clothes up, and we got to the bottom, and there was three pairs of leather pants. We knew by then this was probably her stuff."
When he left, they called Monica to come back.
Monica Fatolahi: "She was holding that green jacket, and I’m like yes! That's mine!"
They called police. Even they admit the chances of this all is unthinkable.
The police set up a sting. They had the store call the man back to say his clothes sold fast, and hundreds of dollars were waiting for him.
When he walked in, police followed, and soon brought him back out in handcuffs. He had nothing to say.
Lt. Ti Simmons: "A lot of coincidences, and some very strange aspects."
Monica is just happy she has her clothes back.
Monica Fatolahi: "I am excited... Happy it's taken care of."
