Photo: Karla Vincencio
Ventura County – Losing a wallet can be a complete hassle. Losing it to a criminal pickpocket can be worse. First of all the victim loses cash. In addition, the theft of credit cards and identification often leads to substantial financial losses.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Timothy Lohman, restaurants throughout the Thousand Oaks community had “several victims” reporting stolen wallets during August 2018. Thieves immediately used credit cards belonging to those victims. This “resulted in thousands of dollars’ worth of fraudulent purchases.”
What may have initially been petty thefts quickly escalated to suspicions of grand larceny and identity theft. That’s when the VCSD Financial Crimes Unit became interested and conducted an investigation and effort to identify the possible perpetrators. Following a review of restaurant surveillance videos, detectives focused on “one unknown male and one unknown female” as the likely culprits.
Images of the two possible suspects were broadcast to multiple Southern California law enforcement agencies. One agency identified the female in the videos as 38-year-old Tarzana resident Karla Vicencio. Further investigation into Vicencio’s recent activities indicated that she and her male cohort “were responsible for multiple similar crimes” ranging from San Diego County to Washington State.
A search warrant for Vicencio’s residence in Tarzana led to the discovery of evidence of her crimes. As a result officers took her into custody and transported her to Ventura County Jail. They booked her on charges of burglary, identity theft, and conspiracy, with her bail set at $350,000.
Vicencio’s male accomplice remains at large. Anyone with any information regarding his identity or whereabouts may notify VCSD detectives at 800-222-8477.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
