One arrested in fraud, ID theft case

A Modesto man was arrested Monday in Merced after police found numerous stolen credit cards and phony identification cards he allegedly had used to rent hotel rooms, Merced police reported.

Christopher I. Diaz, 43, was booked into the Merced County jail on suspicion of identity theft, receiving stolen property, theft by access card, altering identification cards, and possession of a counterfeit apparatus. He was still in custody Monday evening in lieu of $55,000 bail, according to booking records.

Merced police Officers Vance Walker and Jake Dudley responded around 10:30 a.m. to the Ramada Inn in the 2000 block of East Childs Avenue. Officers took a report of a man, later identified by investigators as Diaz, who allegedly was using fake identification cards and stolen credit cards to rent rooms at the hotel, Merced police said in a news release.

Less than three hours later, Officer Rogelio Rodriguez made a traffic stop on West Third Street and quickly identified the driver as Diaz. “We were able to connect the dots and discover it was the same Diaz in both cases,” Sgt. Brian Rodriguez told the Merced Sun-Star.

Police stopped the vehicle because they believed three people inside the vehicle were acting “suspicious” and were concerned they might be casing homes to burglarize.

“That area is a high crime area; numerous auto and residential (burglaries) have been reported in the area,” Rodriguez said.

Police said they found in the truck bed an identification card embosser, a credit card machine, several stolen credit cards and stolen identification cards in several bags. Officers later learned the vehicle had recently been reported stolen out of Los Banos, Rodriguez said.

“Diaz admitted to receiving the identification card embosser and the credit card machine from a subject in Los Banos,” police said in the statement.

The investigation is ongoing.

This story was originally published November 17, 2014 at 6:36 PM with the headline "One arrested in fraud, ID theft case."