CAROLINE COUNTY, Va. — Danielle Brown went to the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office on March 9 to get an accident report after hitting a deer. Instead, she ended up in jail for three days for a crime she did not commit.
"It's crazy, something I feel like you see in the movies, but you don't think actually happens," Brown said.
Brown said a sheriff’s deputy ran her Social Security number and date of birth, and her name came back as an alias for Julia Bickford, a woman wanted on an arrest warrant out of Chesterfield County.
"He takes my ID and he runs my name," Brown said. "He comes back to tell me that he has a warrant for my arrest, which was jaw dropping to say the least, because, to my knowledge, there was nothing that I could have a warrant for."
"He said that Julia Bickford was an alias of mine, and that, because it was my alias, he had to take me in," she continued. "I told him I'd never even heard the name before."
CBS 6 investigative reporter Melissa Hipolit asked Brown what the deputy said when she pushed back.
"He just kept telling me that, that he had to take me in, that it was that. It was me, basically," Brown said.
Hipolit asked if the deputy put handcuffs on her.
"Oh, yeah, he put handcuffs on me. As soon as he told me that he had a warrant for my arrest," Brown said.
Despite her pushback, the deputy consulted with a magistrate, and they decided to hold her at Pamunkey Regional Jail.
"The magistrate, even he was confused and said that he didn't think that it was me, but that I had to go in front of a judge, so they were going to keep me for the night until I could see the judge the next day, next day came and never saw the judge," Brown said.
Brown sat in jail under the name Julia Bickford on Monday and Tuesday night.
On Wednesday afternoon, Chesterfield authorities arrived and moved her to the Chesterfield jail.
"It wasn't until Pamunkey went to give Chesterfield my all my rings, my property, they said they couldn't take them, so I had to sign a property release for somebody to come pick up my property. It was then that I looked at her and said, 'Do you want me to sign it as my name or her name?' That's when Chesterfield started asking questions, because they were like, 'What do you mean her name?' And I was like, 'Well, I'm not Julia Bickford,'" Brown said.
The Chesterfield Sheriff’s Office told CBS 6 they identified her as Danielle Brown and not Julia Bickford based on her Real ID, DMV photographs, fingerprinting and FBI identifiers.
She was in their facility for less than an hour before they obtained a court order to release her immediately.
According to the court order, records in Albemarle County, Virginia, state the defendant, Julia Bickford, has used the alias name of Danielle Brown in the past.
Brown believes Bickford stole her identity in the past, although the Chesterfield Sheriff’s Office told CBS 6 one cannot automatically infer her identity was stolen.
Brown wonders how Chesterfield was able to find out so quickly that she was Danielle Brown and release her, while Caroline County and Pamunkey held her in jail from Monday to Wednesday.
Hipolit asked Brown what it was like to be in jail for something she did not do.
"It was horrible. It was jaw dropping. Again, like I was worried about my job. I was scared that I [would] lose my job, mainly," Brown said.
We asked Pamunkey Regional Jail why they decided to hold Brown and are waiting to hear back.
Caroline County Sheriff Scott Moser said his office is conducting an internal investigation. He called the episode unfortunate and said he is really sorry this happened.
But for Brown, sorry is not enough. Hipolit asked if she thinks somebody should be held accountable.
"Yes, ma'am, the person that locked me up," Brown said. "I don't think he deserves his job. He's definitely not doing a good job at it. I'd like to see his badge taken from him."
We also asked about Pamunkey Regional Jail's responsibility, as well as the magistrate.
"They need to step up altogether... I think all of them need to be held accountable in some way," Brown said.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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