- Tuesday March 13th, 2018 :: 05:33 p.m. PDT
Two men arrested for 487 counts of Identity Theft, Grand Theft and Forgery, #LASD Fraud & Cyber Crimes
On February 27, 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged 44-year-old Ruben Gutierrez and 46-year-old Wilfrido Rodriguez in a criminal complaint, case number BA465793, with 487 counts of Identity Theft, Grand Theft, and Forgery. Warrants were issued for their arrests. Ruben Gutierrez resides in the city of Huntington Beach and Wilfrido Rodriguez resides in the city of Downey.
It is alleged that between 2003 and 2014, the defendants prepared fraudulent structural engineering plan set pages, structural observation reports, and structural calculation sets depicting the name and logo of a local engineering company on the documents to make them appear as if they had been prepared, reviewed and approved by a licensed civil engineer. The local engineering company is a victim in this crime and had no knowledge the fraud was occurring.
During the investigation conducted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Fraud & Cyber Crimes Bureau, 65 search warrants were served by investigators, ultimately resulting in the discovery of over 735 potential victims located throughout the seven Southern California Counties.
Upon completion of the investigation, the case was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s White Collar Crime Division, who filed 487 felony charges against Ruben Gutierrez and Wilfrido Rodriguez. The charges included numerous counts of Identity Theft, Grand Theft, and Forgery.
On March 13, 2018, Ruben Gutierrez and Wilfrido Rodriguez were arrested at their residence and booked at a Los Angeles County jail facility. Ruben Gutierrez is currently being held on $7,160,000 bail and Wilfrido Rodriguez is being held on $15,550,000. Both defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on March 15, 2018, at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
TIPS:
The public is reminded to research and verify licensing before hiring any contractor or engineer.
If it is too good to be true, there is usually something wrong (i.e. - pricing is lower than the usual standard pricing).
Paying the person directly rather than the corporation is not the usual business practice.
Written by:
Todd Zerbel, Detective
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau
11515 S. Colima Road, #M-101
Whittier, CA
(562) 946-7201
Forwarded by:
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