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A sofa store is at the centre of remarkable tale of twin embezzlement in the US.

A sofa store is at the centre of remarkable tale of twin embezzlement in the US.

Indiana identical twins Patricia and Kathleen Young-Rynearson are in trouble with the law - both of them standing accused of embezzling funds.

Patricia has in fact been sentenced to three years in jail for embezzling around $70,000 from her employer Sofa Select - while, in a completely unrelated case - her sister Kathleen faces charges of forgery and theft, with prosecutors claiming that she stole $54,000 from her employer, an irrigation company.

Patricia, who has never been in trouble with the authorities before, couldn't explain why she had stolen money from Sofa Select - saying that she had spent the cash just on 'bills' and 'gifts'.

'I can't come up with a logical answer', she replied, as the judge repeatedly asked why she had stolen the funds from the sofa and interior design store.

Meanwhile, Patricia's sister Kathleen stands accused of writing close to $40,000-worth of cheques to herself and overpaying herself by $14,000 while working as a bookkeeper at Granger Irrigation in Indiana.

The girl's father, a retired engineer, is still in shock - saying that he has no idea where the girls have learned their criminal ways.

Asserting that the family always had plenty of money while growing up, he told local paper the Indy Star that he 'didn't know what caused them to do it'.

'They weren't brought up that way - we were a close-knit family,' he added.