A 40-year-old Ventura County man has been arrested and is facing charges of identity theft after targeting church patrons in Thousand Oaks, authorities announced this week.
Investigators with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office began looking into the matter in December 2023 after receiving a report from a Thousand Oaks resident who said their tithe check, a charitable donation to the church, had been stolen, altered and deposited into an unknown person’s bank account.
East County Investigations Fraud/Forgery Unit detectives, along with VCSO patrol deputies and bank investigators, launched an extensive investigation, during which several other church patrons who had also been victimized and their personal information compromised were identified.
Authorities were eventually able to identify Thousand Oaks resident Luis Soto as the suspect. He was taken into custody on Feb. 5, according to a VCSO news release.
“A follow-up probation search was conducted at Soto’s residence where additional evidence was located,” authorities added.
Investigators did not say how much money was stolen from the victims, nor did they say whether the victims were all members of a single church or several different churches.
It is also unclear how Soto gained access to their tithe checks.
In all, authorities identified four victims — a 62-year-old woman and three men, ages 32, 74 and 53.
Soto was booked into jail on several counts of identity theft along with various special allegations, authorities said. His bail was set at $100,000.
Authorities urged the public to be diligent when mailing personal checks and to periodically review their account statements to ensure fraud has not occurred.
Those concerned that they may have been victims of identity theft in Thousand Oaks are encouraged to contact the Thousand Oaks Police Department at 805-494-8200 or VCSO’s non-emergency number at 805-654-9511 to file a report.
