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A female, center in striped shirt, who police think is either white or a light-skinned Hispanic, allegedly passed a stolen check at Raley's on May 26 to purchase groceries. The female is suspected of using stolen checks to make multiple purchases at Raley's stores in Galt and Lodi and at Target. According to police, the suspect has long, dark hair, wears prescription glasses and drives a red, '90s model Dodge van. (Courtesy photo)
Six months after burglary, elderly woman is ID theft victim
When someone broke into an 83-year-old Lodi woman's home last fall, she had to document every piece of jewelry that was stolen and close her bank account because checks were stolen.
Six months later, Thelma Weaver thought things were mostly back to order, but thieves apparently knew that banks often close accounts for six months and then reopen them if no bad checks are passed.
During a four-day span in late May, a woman used Weaver's stolen checks throughout Lodi, Stockton and Galt to run up hundreds of dollars worth of charges. The forged checks in Lodi and Galt alone totaled about $600, Lodi Police Detective Nick Rafiq said, and that doesn't count Weaver's list of communications with stores in Stockton.
In hopes of catching the culprit, Rafiq on Thursday released a store surveillance photo of the woman believed to have cashed the forged checks.
"I just hope they catch her, and I hope and I pray to God that she's wearing some of my jewelry," Weaver said.
The suspect appears to be at least half Weaver's age, with long dark hair and possibly wearing prescription glasses, Detective Nick Rafiq said. In the photo he provided, the woman was wearing a striped orange shirt and white pants.
Police believe the woman was driving a red, '90s model Dodge van.
Weaver has a sharp memory and knows the dates everything happened.
On Nov. 7, Election Day, she left her south Lodi home to run errands and take her shih tzu dog to get a TB shot.
Anyone with information on the case, or who recognizes the suspect, is asked to call Detective Nick Rafiq at 333-6747, or contact Lodi police at 333-6727. Anonymous callers may contact Lodi-Area Crime Stoppers at 333-6771.
"I came home at 1:30 p.m. and when I came in all my kitchen drawers were open and my kitchen door was open," Weaver said. "Then I went into my room and screamed, and I think they could have heard me in Stockton."
When she'd gone through everything, Weaver counted 56 missing pieces of jewelry, as well as a music box and even some "gorgeous" beach towels — which she said led her to believe a woman was involved in the burglary.
Later that month, Lodi police called to tell her that a male suspect was in custody, with a receipt from her Best Buy card for a 42-inch TV. Then she learned that the suspect was apparently related to a neighbor, and that he'd even been in her house to help install window blinds.
Weaver, who had been an identity theft victim several years earlier, knew the drill. She read the riot act to Best Buy, asking how someone else could get out the door with a huge TV while she had to provide valid ID to buy a vacuum.
Months passed, but then in early June letters began arriving addressed to Weaver and her daughter, whose name is also on her checks.
"The bank had closed the account for six months but those crooks know that, so in May they were back in business," Weaver said.
She said she is now corresponding with a total of 18 companies, and has to send each one a copy of her police report, along with signed affidavits denying that she wrote the checks.
"I'm just so tired of doing this," she said.
How the thieves got away with passing forged checks is not clear.
Stores often ask for photo identification when accepting a check, Rafiq said, but they often just glance at it or look at it through a wallet pocket.
And some stores simply swipe the check through a machine that checks in-house records to see if they've had previous problems with the checking account. If, as in Weaver's case, the person has good credit, they never even look at an ID.
Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.
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See ID wrote on Jul 8, 2007 12:37 PM:
to s&w 500 wrote on Jul 6, 2007 7:34 PM:
EE'SMOM wrote on Jul 6, 2007 6:56 PM:
PAL wrote on Jul 6, 2007 3:58 PM:
victim of id theft wrote on Jul 6, 2007 2:02 PM:
To Lodi Resident... wrote on Jul 6, 2007 10:15 AM:
I work retail and Best Buy should be ashamed!!! wrote on Jul 6, 2007 9:12 AM:
S & W 500 wrote on Jul 6, 2007 9:10 AM:
Me wrote on Jul 6, 2007 8:58 AM:
lodi resident wrote on Jul 6, 2007 7:26 AM:
Comments on this story are now closed.