Second Suspect in ID Theft Case Is Arrested

A woman who police say stole people’s identities and might be linked to fraud schemes in Orange County and elsewhere in Southern California was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on a no-bail warrant for burglary, authorities said this week.

Cynthia Ferguson, 44, of Lancaster was booked at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, said Sgt. Jack Conklin of the Brea Police Department, one of seven law enforcement agencies investigating the case. Ferguson is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Authorities have been searching for Ferguson since her daughter was arrested Sept. 22 in Yorba Linda.

Monica Dawn Ferguson, 27, was arrested by a Brea police officer on an outstanding warrant and on suspicion of forgery, counterfeit checks, fake identification and falsely identifying herself to the officer, authorities said. Brea police patrol Yorba Linda.

The daughter, pulled over for driving with illegally tinted windows, handed the officer a driver’s license that had false information, police said.

A search of her car turned up evidence that might link the mother-daughter team to identity-theft crimes that involve about 100 people and businesses in Los Angeles and in Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, police said.

Monica Dawn Ferguson is being held at Orange County Jail in Santa Ana on $75,000 bail. At the time of her arrest, the older Ferguson also presented an ID with her photograph but with false information, authorities said.

According to police, Cynthia Ferguson was involved in a real estate fraud scheme in Lancaster in which she applied for a loan under another name, using counterfeit payroll stubs, fraudulent ID and other fake documents.