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El Cajon woman accused of ID theft


She is serving time for immigration fraud
By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 30, 2006

An El Cajon woman was charged yesterday with stealing the identities of immigrants she had falsely promised to help with immigration matters.

Many of the bogus transactions took place after Bemilda “Linda” Ruiz had been arrested on immigration fraud charges, and some took place after she pleaded guilty to some of those charges last year, according to the allegations.

Ruiz preyed on people who didn't speak English and were unsophisticated about financial matters, said Deputy District Attorney Tricia Pummill.

Ruiz, 38, had obtained personal information from her victims when she fraudulently agreed to help them obtain green cards. She wasn't a lawyer or qualified to do such work.

Then, even after she was charged with theft in the immigration fraud, she used the information – and some bogus green cards in her victims' names – to take out loans, said agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

She also duped her victims to borrow money for real estate loans at an El Cajon mortgage branch and hand her the checks, the agents said in court filings.

Most of the people who had fraudulent loans taken out in their names come from the North County and the South Bay. At least one is from Riverside County.

Ruiz said nothing in San Diego Superior Court yesterday as a lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf to 13 counts of identity theft, two counts of grand theft and one count of witness intimidation.

Ruiz pleaded guilty Sept. 21 to five counts of grand theft in the immigration fraud case and paid $53,513 in restitution, according to court documents. She was ordered to serve a year in county jail and was due to be released this week.

She committed some of the crimes while in a work-furlough program, authorities said, although she was later jailed after she claimed she was attacked and demanded security from county officials.

She is being held without bail because the new charges, if proven, would be a violation of her probation.

Three other women, including two notaries, have also been arrested and charged with taking part in the scheme, which was yielding tens of thousands of dollars at the same time Ruiz was being asked to pay restitution to the victims of her immigration fraud.

Some restitution payments were made from a bank account of one woman charged with taking part in the identity theft, according to court documents.

Pummill said investigators haven't determined whether any money used to pay restitution came from the identity theft.

The investigation into the identity thefts began after victims came forward in response to reports about her immigration fraud case in Spanish-language media, agents said.

Authorities are looking for other victims, who may call ICE at (866) 347-2423, the San Diego District Attorney's Office at (619) 531-4070 or the Mexican Consulate in San Diego at (619) 308-9916.


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Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; onell.soto@uniontrib.com