Thread: El Cajon woman accused of ID theft

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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

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

El Cajon woman who stole identities of immigrants pleads guilty

By: North County Times wire services -

SAN DIEGO - An El Cajon woman pleaded guilty today to charges she stole the identities of immigrants whom she promised to help stay in this country while tricking them into taking out loans to pay her.

Bemilda Asuncion "Linda" Ruiz, 38, will be sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $598,996 on May 10.

In a hearing before Judge Timothy Walsh, she pleaded guilty to five counts of identity theft and admitted allegations that she committed the crimes while free on bail in another criminal case.

In that case, Ruiz pleaded guilty on Sept. 21, 2005, to five counts of grand theft after claiming she could resolve work-related immigration problems for her clients.

Ruiz preyed on non-English speakers, most of whom knew little about financial issues, said Deputy District Attorney Tricia Pummill.

Between June 2004 and last May, the defendant acquired personal information from her victims when she told them she could help get them "green" cards, prosecutors said.

Ruiz persuaded some of her victims to take out real estate loans at a El Cajon mortgage business and hand over the checks to her, according to authorities.

Ruiz, who once worked for an attorney who was disbarred, is not an attorney herself and is unqualified to do the work she promised, investigators said.

The defendant committed identity theft while free on bail in the immigration grand theft case, Pummill said. Ruiz was ordered to pay restitution of more than $55,000 in that case.

Three women who worked with Ruiz also pleaded guilty today.

Merlyn Diaz, 24, pleaded guilty to felony grand theft. The judge told her she would be put on probation and get no more than a year in jail when sentenced. Diaz will also have to pay $24,063 in restitution.

Reina Montoya, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of identity theft, and the judge told her she faced the same sentence as Diaz. Sentencing is set for May 10.

Maria Dolores Hernandez, 32, pleaded guilty to filing a false report with a government agency and a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report.

A fifth defendant, Alma Lacayo, 43, has a readiness conference scheduled for April 11.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04 ... 4_4_07.txt

This is my hometown, I've lived in El Cajon way back when it was a part of the United States, before it was turned into a barrio colony of Mexico. This is no surprise, in fact I'm shocked there is not more news reported on how much El Cajon has been turned into a gang, drug and smuggling haven for illegals. Every type of crime has exploded since the invasion of illegals has taken place: drug crimes, drive-by shootings, robberies, home invasions, grafitti and especially car theft. El Cajon now has a car theft rate that is three times the national average for a city its size, with over 1,400 every year, including mine.

Most all these cars wind up in Mexico, one quick run to the nearest freeway on-ramp and they are just 25 minutes from the border. My truck was found in the Barrio Logan area of San Diego with fake Mexican license plates made from yellow styrofoam and green magic marker for lettering. Inside they found the tools they used to strip all of my custom parts off and replaced with crap parts. Inside the cheap tape deck they put in was a Mexican language music tape. They even found a wallet with a dozen fake IDs, no doubt used by an illegal.

Of course, the police did nothing but take a report, I asked the cops about them tracking down the thieves using the fake IDs inside or the masses of fingerprints everywhere and they said Mexican car theft rings are hard to track down because they get no help from Mexican authorities. So they said case closed, and had my truck towed to a junk yard as a total loss, which of course the insurance did not even come close to covering the cost of all the custom work I had done.

So you can steal a vehicle in San Diego, take into Mexico to strip it down and replace all the good parts with crap and you are free to drive it back into CA, even if they do find it the cops will never hunt the crooks down, they are free do do it all over again with impunity.

Greetings from Mexico's Finest City.