According to Falls Township police, some family animosity and disagreements between roommates caused one Morrisville woman to lie to officers.
Michelle Sandanato, 43, was charged with two misdemeanors including falsely incriminating another and unsworn falsification to authorities via summons on Thursday.
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Sandanato, according to court documents, falsely accused her roommate of stealing her car on March 11, bringing officers out to Harper Drive all on a lie. Sandanato advised police that her roommate had taken her vehicle over eight hours before and never returned it. She told police the woman must have went into her bedroom while she was sleeping and removed her keys without her permission. Sandanato even provided a written statement to police.
When police uncovered the vehicle at the Days Inn on Route 13 in Bristol they were told by the roommate that Sandanato had allowed her to use the car to visit her boyfriend. The woman told police she even put $20 in gas in Sandanato’s vehicle as a ‘thank you’. Text messages and video surveillance at Wawa dictating the exchange between the two women and the gas purchase were provided to police, according to the probable cause affidavit.
When police arrived back on Harper Drive to speak with Sandanato, she started screaming and yelling at her sister, “I told you I couldn’t lie, I told you I didn’t want to lie.” According to court documents, while Sandanato was in police custody, she told police that her sister was unhappy that Sandanato’s roommate was living with her boyfriend and talked her into lying about the stolen vehicle.
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
