May 11, 2022 – Ventura County, Ca.
As if working the counter as a cashier at any 7-11 convenience store isn’t stressful enough, when customers are brazen enough to walk behind into an “employees only” area to steal the employee’s wallet, it feels like a new low point of criminal activity.
But that’s exactly what appears to have taken place on the afternoon of May 4 th when 38-year- old Thousand Oaks transient Victor Franco was recorded on store video exiting with personal property belonging to the store clerk. According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Michael Melucci, a short while later “Franco fraudulently used the victim’s debit card” at a Thousand Oaks gas station” and was recorded on the gas station’s security cameras as he did so.
East Ventura County Patrol deputies responded to the gas station, observed the surveillance video recording, and easily “identified the suspect as Franco,” with whom they were keenly familiar as a result of his “multiple law enforcement contacts.” At that point, deputies located Franco at his “encampment” and arrested him for identity theft. He was transported to Ventura County Jail that afternoon.
On May 6 th , the East Valley Investigations Forgery-Fraud Unit took over the investigation and presented additional evidence to the Ventura County District Attorney. Four days later, Franco was charged with Identity Theft and Second Degree Commercial Burglary. He remains in custody, with his bail set at $75,000.
Photo: Courtesy www.thousandoaksboulevard.com
