City of Santa Rosa, CA, CivicReady Public Safety Alerts & Notifications
SRPD News Release: Prolific Property Crimes and Identity Theft Suspect Arrested
Prolific Property Crimes and Identity Theft Suspect Arrested
On April 9, 2024, the Santa Rosa Police Department (SRPD) investigated the report of a commercial burglary. During the burglary, tools and musical equipment were stolen with an estimated value of over $10,000.On August 7, 2024, the victim of the original burglary located several of his stolen items being sold on an online marketplace. Those items had customizable features that were unique to the victim and essential to their identification.
Detectives from the SRPD Property Crimes Investigations (PCI) Team began following up on the new lead and authored search warrants for details of the online marketplace account. With that information, detectives identified a possible suspect and confirmed an associated address through law enforcement databases and surveillance in the following weeks. The address was known by detectives from numerous previous investigations and associated with a prolific property crimes and identity theft offender.
On August 22, 2024, PCI detectives served a search warrant in the 1000 block of Polaris Drive in Windsor and contacted several residents. During the search of the property, detectives did not locate any of the musical instruments or tools from the original burglary, however, they did locate several items of illegal contraband. Some of those items included stolen mail, identification cards, and debit cards belonging to identity theft victims, blank check stock possessed for fraudulent purposes, blank access cards and printers possessed for fraudulent purposes and a stolen e-bike.
Detectives completed interviews with the residents and located digital evidence which confirmed the resident’s involvement in possessing the stolen musical equipment from the original burglary. Some of those items were ultimately tracked down at a local pawn shop and are in the process of being retrieved by the victim.
Investigators also followed up with several victims of the mail theft and identity theft. Through those interviews, detectives learned one victim had a debit card stolen in the mail within days of the residential search warrant. A second victim’s credit card had been used the day before at a home improvement store in Rohnert Park. Detectives obtained surveillance video from that transaction and confirmed the suspect in this incident was the same person being investigated for the commercial burglary and possession of illegal contraband.
Refujio Cuco Carrillo, a 47-year-old resident of Windsor, was ultimately arrested for several violations associated with multiple criminal investigations. At the time of the arrests and search warrant service, Carrillo was out on bail related to a previous arrest in June 2024 by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office where he was arrested for Grand Theft, Possession of Stolen Property, and Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purposes of Sale.
The new charges and cases associated with the SRPD investigation are as follows:
SRPD case #24-4199
496(a) PC – Possession of stolen property
12022.1(a)(1) PC – Committing a felony while out on bail
SRPD case #23-12941
496(a) PC – Possession of stolen property
12022.1(a)(1) PC – Committing a felony while out on bail
SRPD case #24-10023
12022.1(a)(1) PC – Committing a felony while out on bail
484i(c) PC – Make counterfeit access cards
484e(c) PC – Receive access card with intent to defraud
530.5(a) PC – Possess personal identifying information with the intent to defraud
530.5(c)(2) PC – Possess personal identifying information with priors
475(b) PC – Possess blank check with intent to defraud
SRPD case #24-10028
530.5(a) PC – Possess personal identifying information with the intent to defraud
530.5(c)(2) PC – Possess personal identifying information with priors
459 PC - Burglary
484g PC –Theft by use of access card information
During the residential search warrant, detectives also determined that 31-year-old Windsor resident, Beatriz Vital Lomeli, was in possession of personal identifying information that did not belong to her. Vital Lomeli had prior convictions for identity theft. On August 22, 2024, she was also arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail for a violation of 530.5(c)(2) PC – Possess Personal Identifying Information with Priors, under SRPD case #24-10023.
Media inquiries can be made to Sgt. Patricia Seffens, Public Information Officer, at 707-543-3634 or pseffens@srcity.org.
