An unidentified thief has been suspected of stealing identities around Santa Clarita ever since May 22nd of 2022. The suspect committed this crime by using stolen credit cards to make purchases from multiple retail stores.

This unidentified suspect has been circulating Santa Clarita. Spending a current total of $667.45 from stolen credit cards, they have been going to numerous businesses such as, Turner’s Outdoorsman, Best Buy, Macy’s, Arco, and Panda Express.

As a community, it is crucial for Santa Clarita to initiate a system to become more aware and responsive to these types of situations.

The overall crime rate in Santa Clarita is 11 out of 1,000, compared to Los Angeles which is 32 out of 1,000. This makes Santa Clarita one of the safest cities in California. A city with a higher rate of crime can cause a idea of lack of security and protection.

On January 19, 2023, LASD Detective Rubalcava, created a post for the SCV community to help identify this suspect, encouraging “Anyone who sees something, say something.” Helping the community by starts through active citizenship, stopping one thief as a time.

Golden Valley High School Senior, Shahen Jordan, expresses his personal feeling stating, “I feel as if it shouldn’t happen, and I wouldn’t really care if it happened to me, I’d just report fraud to my bank.” However, everyone would have a different reaction to an event like this and reaching out to local authorities is the best choice for cases like these. Creating more ways to protect identity should be a top priority for many.

Here are some examples on how to keep yourselves more financially protected:

• Store documents that have personal information, such as financial documents and social security numbers
• Keep all medical care documents and credit cards in a safe place inside your house
• Do not share any financial or health plan information over the phone with someone that isn’t trusted
• Cut up all recent and old receipts, old debit and credit cards, insurance forms and bank statements

There is no telling when this thief will be caught. The SCV Sheriff’s station will be working on the case relentlessly. Along with other cases of identity theft, they hope to implement new systems to prevent these harmful situations. Cases like these are important to be aware of, so as a community we should inform and help each other.

If you see something or hear something, say something; protect yourself and those around you.