1 month ago
5
MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A pistillate is down bars successful Madera County, accused of faking a carjacking.
The Madera County Sheriff’s Office arrested 57-year-old Martha Gutierrez DeRomero. She is facing a felony security fraud complaint after claiming two men stole her van with thousands of dollars' worthy of items inside - but, according to Sheriff Tyson Pogue, that was a lie.
"She played this communicative to the champion of her quality to bash everything she could to marque america judge that this happened," she said.
DeRomero told deputies that she had been a unfortunate of a convulsive carjacking astatine the intersection of Avenue 21 and Road 26 connected May 23.
"She fundamentally said that she pulled implicit her van successful bid to set the load. She heard a sound oregon something. And portion she had stopped, she said that 2 men approached her and fundamentally carjacked her," Pogue explained.
Gutierrez said the men stole thousands of dollars worthy of merchandise she planned connected selling astatine a flea market. Through their investigation, deputies discovered the study was a scam, concocted arsenic portion of an security fraud scheme.
"Her communicative conscionable didn't marque a full batch of sense. So, erstwhile they commencement pursuing up connected these leads, essentially, you know, the dots didn't connect," Pogue explained. "They determined that she was astir apt not being truthful and yet got her to confess that she was lying astir the incident."
They accidental her boyfriend, identified arsenic 57-year-old Alfredo Delezma, helped execute the plan.
"They fabricated this communicative wherever they took the $60,000 worthy of assorted similar fitness-type equipment, hid it successful a retention locker, dumped the van retired successful a agrarian country successful Merced County, and past traveled present to marque up the story," Pogue said.
He says the astir frustrating portion is the fig of resources spent trying to fig retired what happened.
"We had exigency effect to the country wherever we person deputies coming from each corners of the county," helium said. "It's highly concerning, highly upsetting that idiosyncratic would beryllium truthful selfish to the information of others to resistance those resources into an incidental for thing that, you know, immoderate accidental they're conscionable wholly making up for security fraud."
Both DeRomero and Delezema are facing respective charges, including felony security fraud and conspiracy.
