Woman Arrested in Alleged Thefts of Credit Cards, Checks

A Glendora woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing dozens of credit cards and personal checks from mailboxes in Ventura and Los Angeles counties and forging names to buy trinkets, clothing and food items, authorities said Tuesday.

Julie Loucks, 38, was taken into custody after a Moorpark hair salon manager, having seen a flier about the thefts that police sent to local businesses, recognized a woman matching the suspect’s description.

Loucks was arrested on suspicion of forgery but was being held on suspicion of a parole violation until deputies finish investigating the mail theft.

“The amazing thing is she had no fake IDs,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Senior Deputy Ed Tumbleson. “A lot of business owners were accepting these forms of payment without ID.”

Loucks allegedly left the salon earlier this month after a clerk told her the credit card she was using to buy a hair dryer was no good. The manager then telephoned police with a description of the woman’s station wagon.

Last Friday, Sgt. Ron Nelson spotted the car at a local strip mall in the 500 block of West Los Angeles Avenue and arrested Loucks after she bought two bottles of diet pills with an allegedly stolen check.

Authorities discussed the arrest after spending the weekend searching Loucks’ car, a home in Glendora she shares with her husband, and another family home in Moorpark, Tumbleson said.

Inside Loucks’ green Saturn station wagon, deputies said they found mail belonging to 20 residents from the Marlborough housing development in Moorpark that had allegedly been stolen early Friday before Loucks’ arrest.

Also inside the car, Tumbleson said, authorities seized 45 items including clothing, salt-and-pepper shakers, pistachio nuts and various trinkets. Each was worth less than $100, he said.

Authorities believe Loucks spent a couple of months stealing boxes of personal checks, credit cards and cash advance checks from credit card companies from residential mailboxes in Moorpark, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Northridge, Glendora and West Covina in Los Angeles County.

At least five businesses in Moorpark, including a gas station, a Mexican restaurant and a doughnut shop, have reported receiving bogus checks or falsified credit card receipts. Dozens more complaints about bad checks or credit card purchases were expected from both counties during the coming month.

Loucks was being held without bail. Tumbleson said it would be several more days before deputies present a forgery case to prosecutors.