PASADENA >> Police in Pasadena jailed an identity theft suspect from San Bernardino Thursday after the woman tried to order an Uber ride with a stolen cell phone, authorities said.
The series of event began about 10:30 a.m. when the woman tried to rent a car using a fraudulent credit card and ID at Hertz rentals, 2070 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena police Lt. John Luna said.
The woman ran from the business after being confronted about the attempted fraud by an employee and another customer, the lieutenant said.
She was accompanied by two men as she fled, Luna said. Hertz employees notified police.
Responding officers soon found the two male suspects walking in the area and arrested them, Luna said. The female suspect eluded police, but not for long.
Representatives from the ride-sharing mobile app Uber notified police later in the afternoon that someone was trying to order a ride using a smartphone that had been reported stolen, Luna said.
“Officers responded to the pickup location,” he said. There, at Colorado and San Gabriel boulevards, police encountered the same woman who had fled following the earlier incident less than a mile away at Hertz.
Vanessa Wilson, 23, of San Bernardino was booked on suspicion of identity theft, along with Justin Ryan Kimbro, 25, and Anthony Vincent Flores, 22, both of Loma Linda, according to Pasadena police officials and Los Angeles County booking records.
Wilson and Kimbro were being held in lieu of $50,000 bail each pending their initial court appearances, records show. Flores was being held in lieu of $80,000 bail, records show.