Former Timeless Treasures shop owner likely headed to trial in embezzlement case
A judge has ruled there’s enough evidence in the embezzlement case against the former owner of the Timeless Treasures consignment shop to take the case to trial.
Andrea Bowen-Gardner, who owned the former shop in San Luis Obispo, will appear in court on Nov. 2 to be arraigned a second time in the case. She originally pleaded not guilty to all charges in February, but she can change her plea at the upcoming hearing.
If Bowen-Gardner pleas guilty, the case will be resolved. If she pleas not guilty, the case will move ahead to trial.
At least 58 people accused the Arroyo Grande resident of selling items they consigned to her without paying them, The Tribune previously reported.
A former customer told The Tribune that the total value of the items was about $50,000.
Kevin Rock, who alleges that Bowen-Gardner stole more than $10,000 from him, said he’s ready for the case to move forward.
“I’m frustrated,” Rock said. “It’s been a long time chasing my own money that I lost from her.”
The District Attorney’s Office suspects that Bowen-Gardner sold the items between December 2018 and June 2019 and said that they included furniture, artwork, and even an antique radio, according to court documents. She potentially sold some of the items at an auction in May 2019, the documents said.
Bowen-Gardner allegedly gave the plaintiffs bounced checks or neglected to pay them entirely, they told The Tribune.
Bowen-Gardner’s lawyer, Patrick Fisher, previously told The Tribune that the shop owner “vehemently denies” the allegations and accused the District Attorney’s Office of engaging in “political prosecution,” which the office denies.
Bowen-Gardner ran the consignment shop on Broad Street for about three years before she was evicted in May 2019 for not paying rent.
Bowen-Gardner faces other money-related charges, too.
The first is an April 2019 misdemeanor charge for writing bad checks, and the other two are felony charges filed in July 2019 related to her business practices at Timeless Treasures, The Tribune previously reported.
This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 4:21 PM.
