Articles Posted in Theft Crimes

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A Riverside County woman who worked as a foreclosure specialist at Fannie Mae in Irvine has been accused of taking over $1 million through accepting bribery and employing fraudulent sales practices with company-owned properties.

Shirene Hernandez, a 45-year-old resident of Riverside County, was a real estate owned foreclosure specialist for the government-sponsored Fannie Mae in Irvine. Her job duties entailed matching properties owned by the company with brokers and accepting sales offers when proposed by the brokers.

During a time period spanning from April 2011 and July 2016 Hernandez has been accused of personally profiting off of the sales transactions of the properties through fraudulent means. Court documents reflect that Hernandez allegedly accepted gifts and cash from certain brokers in order for them to gain the listing so they would profit off of the sales commissions. In addition, some of the foreclosed properties were said to have been purchased by Hernandez at a price below market value, using different names, and then rented out for profit. In total, it was estimated that Hernandez acquired more than $1 in profits from the alleged fraud.

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An Alabama man who set up a date with a woman he had met online was the alleged victim of a robbery by four people, one of which was identified as the woman he was supposed to meet for the date.

The purported victim had made the acquaintance of 29-year-old Rikki Alisha Perry online through a dating application, and they decided that they would like to meet in person for a date.

The man set up the encounter for Tuesday evening, but he reported that Perry never arrived for their plans.

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A 42-year-old man has been arrested after being identified as the possible perpetrator of stealing personal property from inside of classrooms at three different Orange County schools.

On January 11, a teacher at Irvine Baptist Church noticed that her wallet was missing from her purse, which she had left inside of an unoccupied classroom. She reported that her wallet contained money, her driver’s license, and a bank card.

The culprit’s image was seen when a review of the church surveillance video showed a man entering the classroom and shuffling through the woman’s bag before taking her wallet and exiting the room. The offender’s car, a white Chevy Malibu, was also seen in video footage from a parking lot camera.

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A man who was reportedly seeking revenge on a woman that no longer wanted to continue a relationship with him was arrested after he allegedly distributed erotic pictures of her to her employer.

Seminole County, Florida, resident Giuseppe Garibaldi made the acquaintance of a woman who works as a preschool teacher that he connected with through an online dating site. After meeting in person in November they began spending time together as friends. Though they did not have an established romantic relationship they engaged in sexual acts approximately five times.

Both amidst having sex, and also during the time that the woman was asleep, Garibaldi is accused of taking photographs of the victim after their second intimate tryst without her knowledge. He used the pictures to intimidate the victim by threatening to share them with others when he became jealous from the belief that she was dating other men.

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After an FBI investigation into what they believe is a fraudulent operation targeting homeowners facing foreclosure by offering low interest loan modifications, three men from Southern California are facing federal charges as suspects in the alleged hoax.

At the start of 2014 under the name Hope Services, homeowners in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure were offered deals for modifying their loans in order to assist them and stop the seizure of their properties. The potential clients were told they were preapproved for the process and they were asked to submit three payments, which would be held in an account, in order to complete the new loan agreements.

Toward the end of 2014 many complaints were received about Hope Services from people who had submitted payments and did not receive their modified loans as promised. The alleged scam operation then changed their name to HAMP Services, which has the same acronym as an existing government program for home loan modification, and they continued to solicit services to new victims until April 2015.

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On Wednesday morning a Sioux City man allegedly locked himself inside of the front porch at a stranger’s home, and began sexually pleasuring himself while simultaneously smoking methamphetamine.

The woman occupant of a house containing a front porch noticed an unfamiliar man in the enclosure on January 10 around 8:20 AM.

30-year-old Leland Purgett arrived at the home and allegedly entered the structure. He was able to locate the keys to the house, and he secured himself inside the porch area. With the female occupant of the home in view Purgett reportedly began masturbating in front of her while he was concurrently smoking methamphetamine.

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On Saturday night a teenager reported to authorities that he was robbed at gunpoint when an interested purchaser showed up at his home to pick up and pay for a purse he had listed for sale through an online application.

The 16-year-old boy created a listing on a third party online sales application known as “Let Go” in an attempt to find a buyer for a Louis Vuitton designer purse. He priced the bag at $300, though its actual worth was approximately $20 as it was an imitation of the original.

Soon after posting it the teen was contacted by a man interested in the handbag. After haggling on the asking price the prospective buyer and the boy agreed on $250 and the two made arrangements to carry out the transaction. They decided that the man would come to the boy’s home to pay for and pick up the purse.

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Three suspects have been arrested for alleged theft when they were discovered taking luggage that did not belong to them at the Miami International Airport. The bags in question were taken during a three month period in the middle of the holiday travel season.

On December 15 a passenger on board a flight arrived at the Miami International Airport and learned that her luggage was not on the conveyor belt at her designated baggage claim area. The woman called Miami-Dade police and told them of the incident three days later on December 18, which led to the authorities viewing the video surveillance camera footage from the time period in which the event took place.

The video displayed a man, later identified as Wilbert Cabrera-Valdes, removing two bags from the belt, one of which was recognized as the woman caller’s possessions.

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A 67-year-old man is facing hundreds of counts of wire fraud and money laundering for alleged participation as what police call a “middle man” in a common type of email scam dubbed “Nigerian prince.”

These shams, so named for many of them originating in Nigeria though they happen all over the world, typically connive people out of personal information such as bank account numbers under the pretense that they are assisting someone from Nigerian royalty in transferring money to the United States. The scammer then offers compensation for their aid. Law enforcement stated that investigating this type of crime poses challenges, “as many leads have led to individuals who live outside of the United States.”

After an 18-month and still ongoing investigation, police arrested Michael Neu on November 28 as they believed he was working with associates in Nigeria and serving as an intermediator in the fraudulent operations.

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On Tuesday, December 19, police arrested a man who they believe participated in 20 or more package thefts throughout several Irvine neighborhoods.

As reported by the Irvine Police Department, after home video surveillance cameras picked up footage of a man stealing delivered packages off doorsteps in Irvine, authorities released photos and a video to news outlets in an attempt to locate the responsible party. 33-year-old Anthony Brian Palusso, a Mission Viejo resident, was identified at a local hotel by someone who had seen the video during a broadcast.

It was discovered that Palusso was in possession of an outstanding warrant, and Garden Grove police picked him up at the hotel and took him into custody.

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