Police split apparent fraud ring at motel

Marisa O’Neil

Police arrested 10 people in a Costa Mesa motel Sunday night,

breaking up what they believe was an identification fraud ring.

Officers made simultaneous, seemingly unrelated stops Sunday night

that led to them to uncover the ring.

Police arrested 38-year-old Long Beach resident Archipelago Balais

late Sunday night at the South Coast Plaza Robinsons-May on suspicion

of burglary, conspiracy, unauthorized use of an access card and

receiving stolen property, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver said.

While police were investigating that case, other officers made a

routine traffic stop in the 2600 block of Newport Boulevard.

“It just so happened that somebody made a car stop and found stuff

to link it to the fraud case,” Carver said. “It’s very strange that

the two would just happen at the same time. Officers decided to go

back to where the vehicle was leaving from.”

Police went to the Best Western Motel at 2642 Newport Blvd. and

searched two rooms, he said. They found fake identification cards,

materials to make the cards, methamphetamines and mail stolen from

addresses in Riverside, Corona and Long Beach, Carver said.

Police arrested 20-year-old Lakewood resident Nicole August on

drug charges and for a parole violation and 23-year-old Lakewood

resident Cariza Victor on suspicion of manufacturing false

identification cards.

They also arrested 33-year-old Corona resident Chrissette Ruiz,

25-year-old Carson resident Ressa Santo Domingo, 44-year-old Corona

resident Angel Pulmones, 46-year-old Norwalk resident Willifred

Pinto, 35-year-old La Mirada resident Tan Rollingrand and 27-year-old

Norwalk resident Joey Segui on drug charges and suspicion of

manufacturing false identification cards. Segui and 38-year-old

Lakewood resident Noel Segui also face forgery charges, police said.

Victor is being held at Orange County Jail on $10,000 bail, Carver

said. The others are being held on $20,000 bail.

This type of crime isn’t uncommon, Costa Mesa Police fraud

investigator Lily Martinez said. Often, people in such cases use

stolen mail to get people’s information and open accounts in their

names, she said.

“They could use the name to get a cellphone or their profile to

get some sort of credit,” she said. “They could go through the mail

to get checks and create an ID card with photo on it, then go into a

store to commit the fraud.”

Postal investigators are also looking into the case, Carver said.