Photo: Stock Image
Once a thief succeeds in a criminal endeavor, the apparent tendency is for them to repeat the same behavior with something akin to reckless abandon.
That appears to have been the case leading to the February 12th arrest of 34-year-old Van Nuys, Ca. resident Juan Sebastian Prieto Tranamil. He became the target of an investigation initiated in January 2024 by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department’s East County Investigations Unit and the East County Directed Enforcement Unit pursuant to a female victim’s report of a stolen purse.
According to VCSD spokesperson Detective Maribel Ambriz, the stolen purse contained “personal identifying information” and credit cards that were traced to purchases made subsequent to their theft at a Thousand Oaks Target Department Store. Either unaware of the ubiquity of retail store video surveillance systems or acting in complete disregard of such technology, “two suspects” were clearly observed on the Target Store recordings as they used the purloined credit cards for their purchases.
With the help of detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, VCSD law enforcement was able to identify Tranamil and to determine that he was the subject of multiple outstanding Orange County and Beverly Hills arrest warrants. With that information in hand, detectives spent the month hunting Tranamil down and ultimately contacted him in the City of Van Nuys.
He was taken into custody, and transported to the East Valley Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and identity theft. He remains in custody with his bail set at $375,000.
