SAN JOSE – A series of burglaries and identification thefts led detectives to 40-year-old Norma Pizano on Wednesday, December 11. She faces more than 22 counts of felony fraud under PC 530.5 (c) (2). She has also had been charged with PC 459-460 (a) for second degree burglary, accused of entering a residence located at 284 Cresta Vista Way in San Jose.
It is believed that Pizano entered the home and located several blank checks and personal, identifiable information, with which Pizano likely intended to file credit card applications, possibly costing the residents thousands of dollars. The burglary was discovered when a neighbor, who had agreed to watch over the home while the residents were on vacation, noticed that the garage door was open.
The Department’s Bureau of Investigation began to piece together a number of victim statements which led to the identification of Pizano, as credit card companies, Macy’s, Target, Old Navy, Wal-Mart, JC Penny’s, TJ Max, Nordstrom and other credit card companies and banks such as, Chase, Wells Fargo and USB were impacted. Banks and businesses reported multiple fraudulent checks cashed for tens of thousands of dollars.
Other similar cases continued to broaden across the city. Detectives assigned to the case filed for a search warrant of Pizano’s residence at 263 N. 9th Street, where investigators found evidence inside two folders containing information from numerous victims Pizano had targeted.
Not only is it believed Pizano burglarized more than 10 residences throughout the San Jose area, she was also believed to have stolen several checks and personal information from parked cars she had a particular fancy with. On August 17 one of her victims reported a residential burglary where several valuable items were taken from the garage earlier that morning. A female suspect had been seen leaving the garage with the items, but was not identified. Other victims reported returning to their home to find their garage doors open.
Many of the victims received credit reports from Experian, telling them that a credit card from Discover, Master Card or Capital Bank One had been requested in their names, but were not filed by the victims.
When confronted by investigators, Pizano said she preferred Target, and that it was easy and “not a challenge at all” because they rarely look at ID’s. Pizano stated she “altered checks by adding the name from the stolen ID onto the check.” None of the victims knew Pizano, nor did they give her permission to possess, alter, and or use their identities when she cashed their checks.
This was not the first time Pizano has been charged with burglary and fraud. At the time of the burglaries Pizano had already served time, and was on formal probation for the same offense under PC 530.5 (c) (3), Felony fraud, before being arrested again. Pizano’s next court date has been scheduled for Dec 23, 2013 at 9:00 am in Dept. 39.
