WESTMINSTER : Suspect May Be Tied to Other Burglaries

An Ontario woman charged with stealing $18,000 from an elderly couple may be responsible for a string of residential burglaries, sheriff’s investigators said.

Diane Ephrim, 44, pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary and grand theft at an arraignment Monday at West County Municipal Court and faces a pretrial hearing today.

Sheriff’s investigators said Tuesday that they are investigating Ephrim and members of her family in connection with a series of what they call “residential diversion burglaries” in Orange and Riverside counties and are asking other possible victims to come forward.

“The method they use is to divert the attention of the victim then steal their money,” said Sheriff’s Investigator Tom Giffin. “We have launched a major investigation. We don’t believe this is the only crime of its type that she committed in Orange County.”

Ephrim, accompanied by her two daughters, is said to have offered to fix the Stanton couple’s car for $650 in August and demanded that they give her $500 in cash before starting the work, Giffin said.

The couple told investigators that they retrieved the cash from a cash box in their bedroom. After awhile, they said one of Ephrim’s daughters asked to use the bathroom inside the mobile home.

A short time later, the three left to run errands and didn’t return. The couple then discovered that all of the cash from the box was missing and contacted authorities, Giffin said.

Ephrim was arrested Oct. 13. Police have not been able to locate her two daughters, ages 17 and 12.

Giffin said Ephrim was convicted of a similar crime in Las Vegas in 1986. She is being held at Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,000.