‘Women scorned’ lead police to suspected thief who found victims through dating website
Women who went on dates with a Perris man they met through a popular website banded together and turned to police after the man stole their purses and personal belongings, authorities said.
“This is one of those things — women scorned,” said Riverside police Det. Byron Adcox, crediting the victims with building the case. “They just got pissed off. They did a lot of the legwork.”
According to police detectives, 29-year-old Oscar Mandujano-Quinonez, who also went by Manny, would take women he met through the website Plenty of Fish on dates and then steal from them.
Mandujano-Quinonez allegedly used his real name and photograph on the website and took the women on dates in his own car, making it easy for his victims to report him to police.
“He’s probably not the smartest guy,” Adcox said. “I sat in on an interview with the guy. He admitted some stuff but denied others.”
The case against Mandujano-Quinonez began in mid-November, when one of his alleged victims said that he got her to step outside of his car to “look at something” then sped off with her purse and other belongings still inside his vehicle, a silver Saturn, Adcox said. He then listed her items and other victims’ property online for sale, police said.
When police searched his home, they found other women’s property too, Adcox said. Mandujano-Quinonez actually took the women on dates and spent time with them before the thefts, police said.
Adcox believes some victims may have avoided reporting the crimes at first out of embarrassment. But as news of Mandujano-Quinonez’s arrest has spread, more women have come forward, Adcox said.
Mandujano-Quinonez was arrested Monday when he went to a Riverside park thinking he was going to meet another victim, police said. He was booked on suspicion of two counts of grand theft, misdemeanor petty theft and a misdemeanor probation violation, jail records show. He has posted bail and is due in court Feb. 6.
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