On Nov. 7, at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Officers were patrolling the 400 block of California Ave. and saw a car traveling westbound with its headlights off. Officers conducted a traffic stop at the 1000 block of 4th St. for a vehicle code violation. Upon contacting them, both the driver and the passenger gave the officers false names and told them they did not have any identification on them. Officers asked the female driver to step out of the car and then asked her if they could search. The driver claimed the car belonged to her father and that all the property inside it was his, but consented to the search. During their search, the officers found an ID card and several credit cards belonging to different people, along with a bag full of various trading cards. They also found an embossing machine and a laptop computer, as well as other devices used for creating fictitious credit cards. The officers then called the owner of the ID card they found and learned her locker at self-storage facility in Hawthorne had been burglarized the week before. Both suspects were then taken into custody and booked for identity theft and the burglary in Hawthorne. During the booking in the jail, officers found methamphetamine hidden on the female suspect.
Laura Kimberly Valentin, 26, homeless, had bail set at $500. Luis Carlos Carrillo, 40 was also arrested.
