Above: Victims Wallet | Courtesy of Kings County Sheriff’s Office
Originally Published By: Kings County Sheriffs Office Facebook Page
“On Thursday, September 22, 2022 at approximately 1315 hours, a Deputy was dispatched to the Kwik Break Deli Mart located at 19825 Grangeville Blvd to investigate the theft of a wallet.
The investigation revealed that an elderly man accidently left his wallet on the counter in the store and someone took it. The victim explained to the Deputy he initially thought he left the wallet at home. Once he searched his home he realized he had left the wallet at the store. The wallet contained personal information, credit cards and a large sum of money.
The Deputy viewed surveillance video provided by the store and watched a subject later identified as Daniel Ruelas approach the counter. Daniel used his elbow to hide the wallet and slide the
Suspect Daniel Ruelas | Courtesy of Kings County Sheriffs Office
wallet off the counter. He pinched the wallet between his right elbow and chest. Daniel walked away from the counter and placed the wallet into his pants pocket. Upon leaving the store he got into a gray Volkswagen and left.
Later that day, the Deputy was contacted by the victim and notified of fraudulent charges on his credit card. The illegal charges were from local businesses.
On Friday, September 23, 2022 Daniel attempted to use the stolen credit card at the Tachi Hotel and Casino. Casino Security contacted the Sheriff’s Office and directed Deputies to the subject who used the stolen credit card.
Deputies contacted the subject and immediately noticed he matched the person from the surveillance video who stole the wallet. He was even wearing the same t-shirt he was wearing in the video.
Daniel initially provided authorities with the name of another person. Daniel’s true identity was later discovered by Kings County Jail Depuites during the booking process. Daniel had a no bail warrant out of Fresno County for a violation of probation.
During an interview, Daniel said he took the wallet the day prior from Kwik Break. He used the credit card to purchase gas, food and auto parts. Daniel gave his unsuspecting girlfriend a portion of the money from the wallet and threw the wallet into a trash can at a local gas station.
Deputies later located the discarded wallet and recovered a portion of the cash stolen from the wallet.
Daniel was booked into Kings County Jail on charges of grand theft, theft by use of credit card, credit card fraud and false impersonation of another. Daniel was released a short time later.”
