The holidays are here, and in the third year of the Great Recession an ugly trend has emerged in Rio Linda.
Crime, and plenty of it.
Over the past four weeks, there’s been a car stolen from the parking lot at Westside Elementary, a car broken into and belongings stolen from Orchard Elementary, and just this past week someone kicked in the door at Rio Java and pilfered the skateboards from the wall.
There’s been other crimes of course… the 7-11 was robbed, the church at the site of the old Par Market was burgled, and at least three families have had their bags of recycling aluminum stolen!
The most inspiring of these events comes from Rhena Bowler, whose mother’s car was broken into at Orchard Elementary on Q street.
The thieves swiped a purse from the car, and just 1 1/2 hours later were charging purchases to the credit cards. Not willing to sit still and take it, Rhena jumped into action. She started tracking the purchases online… Shell, Sports Authority, Target. As soon as she saw a purchase entered, she called the store in order to retrieve security video.
The first location was the Sports Authority in Natomas. Smartly, the manager denied the thief’s purchase. The incident was caught on video. The next purchase was at Target. Again, it was caught on video. The manager at Target made a disk with screen grabs immediately. Now Rhena had a description: Female, black hair with purple highlights. It’s all in the hands of the Twin Rivers police and The Sacramento County Sheriff now, but certainly their jobs have been made easier by Rhena’s quick thinking and fast action.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
The recycling thefts were brought to my attention by Shelly Goyet. The Goyet family and 2 others I know of have allegedly been the victims of a local transient named Mike Lorenzo. He’s allegedly entered the property and taken their bags of aluminum cans. Shelly smartly obtained a picture of him. He rides around town on a BMX bike.Apparently, even the local homeless community doesn’t care for him… he likes to beat up on them. Swell guy.
He’s been advised that it’s probably best if he moves on. There’s plenty of people that aren’t happy with his actions, obviously.
(Remember, vigilante justice is dangerous, and not real smart. It would be wise to steer clear of this fellow and inform the authorities if you know of his illegal activities.)
In this era of 12.4% unemployment a crime wave is not shocking… in fact, it should probably be expected. During the holiday season we all let our guard down a little. Lets let this be a little reminder to remain vigilant, and take precautionary measures when it’s warranted. Be careful, and assure yourself of a happy holiday season.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Awesome article once again, John. I can’t thank you enough for getting the word out to our friends and neighbors who we share this community with! I hope the girl that took from Rhena’s mom is caught, and I will sure keep a lookout here in town. Thank you again!!!
The guy in the pic looks happy, smiling and all. He must have thought he was getting his picture taken with Santa.
The bad news just keeps coming . . . . they have now spent over $1800 from checks at Cash Creek. Accounts are closed, but it is still my parents name dragging on. How are these businesses Raley’s, Kohl’s, Cash Creek, etc cashing checks for these people. She looks NOTHING like my mother. Trying to have faith in the police, but come on already. I found them at several stores on tape. This is a very organized group. It will happen again in our town unless people are willing to put a stop to it. Now my parents are giving up their one fun thing of gambling. They have their VIP cards and are having a blast with them. Gotta go throw up again . . . . . .
Mike Lorenzo has also stolen 2 cameras from my house and BOLDLY robbed the lady across the street from me to what degree I am not sure she even knows (he was her lawn boy for over a year) He is a little punk who tries to tell a sad story of homelessness when in fact he is just a no good meth addict with a step father who will provide him what he needs if he gets off dope. He BOASTS, is proud to be an addict (“he gets shit done”)and gets angry when you tell him he has somewhere to go. I have the serial # on the camera he stole from me, the other belonged to my 10 year old daughter. Mike Lorenzo needs to be in JAIL and I am sure there are more people that have been and will be ripped off by this ruthless addict running our streets. THIS IS NOT A TRANSIENT I HELP!!! PERIOD!!!!!!
If I see him Wendy, I will call the police. Maybe we need an aluminum can sting to get him caught. He has escalated from cans now. More will come if he is not stopped.
i was friends with lorenzo arteaga for a good couple of years before he started using meth…he quickly began too change. he swore to me that he would never steal from me, but that was all a lie.he stole my little sisters digital camera, and my friends video camera that he literally had for all of about 3 days. then i noticed that my nintendo ds was also missing…he took that too. He needs to be put in Jail ASAP!
Hello everyone, I just wanted to leave a quick note after reading this article & all of the comments. I too have had my home broken into TWICE. The first time was on Nov. 21st (my mother’s bday), whereas they entered through a bedroom window and stole a gun that belonged to my dad. The second time was on Dec. 7th and this time they emptied 3 jewelry boxes one of witch belonged to my dad as well. My parents bought this house in 1963 and this sort of thing has NEVER happened before. I made two police reports and of course have still heard nothing. I have lost many of our family heirlooms that most likely will never be recovered. I have never felt so violated in my life!
This is my son’s 1st Christmas and because of these happenings I am afraid to even celebrate in my own home. That is sad.
To Shelley, Rhena, Wendy & Jake…
sorry to hear of your losses as well. We all need to keep on top of this situation & try to clean up our community & keep our belongings safe
Yep! Just as I suspected… this guy Mike threatened to throw a brick through my
window at the Chamber of Commerce. He IS a punk. I work at The Depot 3-4
days a week and there is no one nearby – the closest business is Rio Linda
Hardware and Bren’s Dry Creek Station So, I don’t let obvious bad news bears hang out there if they are not behaving. I called Twin Rivers on Mike after he threatened to break the office windows. Twin Rivers protects the Park District and they are a lot faster than the sheriff. They didn’t do anything to him, except talk to him, but it seemed to work.
We all need to be good neighbors and watch out for each other! A couple of weeks ago two 20-something punks knocked on my door. I didn’t open it, but slid the side window open so they could get a good look at my giant dog! I also called all my immediate neighbors to be on alert. Will keep being vigilant so these idiots don’t rob us blind!
Thanks for this article!!! Its sad news, however, all the great comments here and all the great people that really do care for Rio Linda make a huge difference. I see this guy all the time and often wonder about him, now I know because of all of you and taking the time to write the article and for those of you to read it really helps the community out. A huge thank you goes out to all of you that have a heart and who make a positive impact on our community!!!