CENTRAL FALLS — A woman who was arrested last Thursday for breaking into a vacant building at 65 Summer Street was misidentified by Central Falls Police after she gave them her sister’s name.

The real suspect, Cheryl Johnson, 49, of Providence, was identified through fingerprints following  an investigation into the robbery. At the time of her arrest, Johnson had given police the name of her 50-year-old sister, Bertha D. Johnson, and had used her sister’s address of 69 John St., Pawtucket.
Cheryl Johnson, and a companion, George Ramsdell, 49, of 50 Carnation St., Pawtucket, had been charged with breaking and entering a building during the daytime after police discovered them hiding in a closet in a second floor apartment. Police had responded to the vacant property after a member of the Central Falls Fire Department reported seeing the front door open.
Police discovered that the front door had been forced open. They also found a glass tube and copper filings used for narcotics, although no drugs were located during a search of the apartment.
According to Major Kevin Guindon, the fingerprinting identification process took longer than usual and Johnson’s paperwork had been processed under her sister’s name in the initial police report. Cheryl Johnson, found to be a probation violator, was being held at the ACI since her arrest. She will now be charged with obstruction in addition to the robbery charges, Guindon said.
Bertha Johnson told The Times that her sister has used her name on at least two other occasions, including a recent drug arrest in Pawtucket and a break-in in Cumberland.