On May 14, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office announced that detectives had arrested a Santa Rosa woman after stealing a purse from a shopping cart in Windsor.
According to their statement, the investigation began on May 9, after an elderly victim had her purse stolen from a shopping cart from a retail store in Windsor. A customer saw a female, later identified as Yuridia Hernandez, grab the victim’s purse out of the shopping cart. The customer confronted Hernandez. Hernandez tossed the purse on the ground and left the store. However, the victim discovered her wallet had been stolen from her purse and called Windsor Police Department for a report.
According to the statement, as the deputy took the report, the victim received a notification on her cellphone that one of her credit cards had recently been used at a business in Santa Rosa. Windsor deputies obtained video surveillance from the business and gathered additional information for the investigation.
On May 13, detectives traced Hernandez to the 3100 block of Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa. Detectives found the victim’s stolen credit cards and personal identifying cards in Hernandez’s possession. Detectives also found additional stolen items (credit cards and checks) belonging to other victims.
“This is still an active investigation since we have additional victims the detectives will need to interview,” said the department.
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Property Crime detectives arrested Hernandez for the following felony and misdemeanor charges: fraudulent use of a credit card, grand theft, burglary, possession of a stolen credit card, financial elder abuse, possession of the stolen property, possession of methamphetamine and for having an outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrant. Hernandez was booked into the Sonoma County Jail, where she later posted bail.
