A 38-year-old woman was charged with car theft after she allegedly took someone else’s car from an auto repair shop on Bainbridge Island and tried to pay the repair bill with counterfeit money.

Cristina Javon Chavez, 38, was charged with one felony count of second-degree taking a vehicle without permission in Kitsap County District Court on Sept. 26.

Police said the incident began early Wednesday, Sept. 24 when employees at an auto repair shop on Olympic Drive called 911 just after 8 a.m. to report that a woman had come into the shop’s lobby and took a pair a car keys off the counter and started to walk out.

When an employee asked if she needed help, the woman said she was there to pick up a car for another person.

The car, a 1998 Nissan Maxima, belonged to a 25-year-old Bainbridge Island woman, and Chavez allegedly claimed to be the car owner’s mother.

When an employee pointed out that Chavez didn’t look old enough to be the car owner’s mother, she then tried to pay the repair bill with photocopies of $20 bills.

The employee quickly noticed the bills were bogus, and saw they had been printed with light pink ink on one side.

When the repair shop employee said he could not take the bills as payment because they were obviously not real, the woman tried to claim they were traveler’s checks.

The employee suggested that the woman cash the traveler’s checks herself and pay in cash, and Chavez then said she was going to use the car to go to the bank to get money and would come right back. Chavez then got in the car and drove away.

A witness said she went north on Highway 305, and said it was obvious she could not drive a stick shift.

Police contacted the woman who owned the car, who told them the car was actually owned by her father who lives in Connecticut, but she also said that no one had permission to take the vehicle.

Police were again called to the repair shop after Chavez returned just before 10 a.m. and was using the restroom.

When questioned by officers, Chavez gave conflicting answers about who actually owned the car. She was arrested and then refused to talk, and said she had the right to remain silent.

Chavez later told police her name was Tezra Ariha Ashkelon, and that she had been incarcerated in Nevada and California, but police could not confirm her name.

The stolen vehicle was found in a parking lot not far from the auto repair shop. An officer retrieved the Chavez’s leopard-print purse from the car, and found it contained a Walkman, a piece of asphalt and other items.

Authorities had trouble determining Chavez’s name, and found she had seven aliases. She was finally booked into Kitsap County Jail Friday morning under the name of Jane Doe on charges of second-degree burglary and first-degree theft.

Bail for second-degree burglary was set at $10,000.