Law Enforcement

RIVERSIDE - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced that two men who stole millions of dollars through phony stock sales and an illegal pyramid scheme were convicted today on charges of grand theft and securities fraud.

James A. Sweeney, II, 64, of Afton, Tennessee, and Patrick M. Ryan, 35, of Canyon Lake, California, were found guilty on 65 counts of grand theft and securities fraud. The two men, who face a maximum of more than 20 years in state prison, will be sentenced June 14 in Riverside County Superior Court.

Sweeney and Ryan, co-founders of Riverside-based Big Co-op, Inc., stole approximately $8.2 million from more than 1,000 Californians through an illegal pyramid scheme and phony stock sales.

Big Co-op, also operating as Ez2Win.biz, purported to be an online shopping hub where consumers could go to purchase thousands of goods and services at discounted prices from big-name retailers including, Sears, Target and Macy’s.

Pyramid Scheme

Consumers were informed they could save money on their own purchases, plus earn commissions and rewards, by convincing others to shop at the site. In reality, consumers never received rebates or rewards. Instead, their monetary gains were based on recruiting others to purchase memberships, and having those purchasers recruit others to purchase memberships (and so on).

Individuals who were recruited paid Big Co-op between $19.95 and $99.95 in monthly membership fees for the rewards program.

From 2005 to 2006, Big Co-op generated $1.2 million in revenues through this pyramid scheme.

Phony Stock Sale

In addition to the pyramid scheme, the two men sold phony stock in Big Co-op as a stand-alone investment.

At seminars and meetings across California, Sweeney and Ryan pitched Big Co-op as the future of online commerce, compared it to Google and EBay, and falsely informed investors the company was turning huge profits. Investors were also told that an initial public offering (IPO) was imminent, and that when the company went public, the stock would double or triple and their investment could climb to well over $100 per share.

In reality, Big Co-op was never profitable, there was not an impending IPO, and the only significant revenue generated was as a result of the sale of phony stock and the payment of membership fees for the pyramid scheme.

Shares in the company were sold for $0.50 to $5.00, with two-for-one deals offered to investors willing to pay cash. From 2005 to 2006, Big Co-op took in more than $7 million from this scheme.

With investor cash, Sweeney and Ryan bought luxury homes, country club memberships, five Mercedes, and ran up $30,000 to $50,000 in monthly credit card bills. Investor funds were also used to pay for an elaborate bachelor party in Las Vegas, a $23,000 wedding ring and a $100,000 wedding.

In October 2006, after receiving numerous complaints, the California Department of Corporations issued two desist and refrain orders against Sweeney, Ryan and other associates directing them to cease selling stock in the company. In May 2007, a second order directed them to cease selling memberships in the company. Following the second order, the case was referred to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Patricia M. Fusco, with assistance from lead investigator Andy Thomas.

The two men were charged in May 2009. A copy of the original complaint can be found at: http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=1749&p=3&y=2009

A memorial service is scheduled on Wednesday, April 13, for Richard “Rick” Oules, former Director of the Division of Law Enforcement in the California Department of Justice.

Mr. Oules, 55, a resident of Granite Bay, passed away peacefully on April 4 surrounded by his family following a courageous battle with cancer.

He began his career in law enforcement more than 30 years ago. In 1977, he was hired as a deputy sheriff with the Merced County Sheriff’s Department. During his 10 years there, he served four years as a patrol deputy, four years as a detective assigned to narcotics, and two years as a patrol sergeant following his promotion to the rank of sergeant.

In 1987, he joined the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, where he served in the Fresno, San Jose, and Sacramento field offices. He was a narcotic task force commander in Fresno, San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, and Merced counties.

Mr. Oules was promoted through the ranks from special agent to his appointment in 2005 as the 12th Director of the Division of Law Enforcement by Attorney General Bill Lockyer. He was reappointed by Attorney General Jerry Brown in 2007.

He retired from the Department of Justice on March 1, 2010, and joined the United States Attorney’s Office in Sacramento as the Law Enforcement Coordinator for the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California.

He was a member of the California Council on Criminal Justice as an appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and was a past president of the 7,000 member California Narcotic Officers Association.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College of California, and was a graduate of the POST Supervisory Leadership Institute. He was a staff instructor for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research and a member of numerous law enforcement professional and fraternal associations.

He was born in Merced to Patsy Doughty and Roger Oules. He is survived by his wife Lisa; his daughter Crissy; his father and mother, Roger Oules and Patsy Doughty; his sisters Carol Wilson and Cindy Engelkamp; and his brothers Steve Oules, Jeff Oules and Matthew Powell.

A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 13, at Saint Ignatius Loyola Parish, 3235 Arden Way, Sacramento. In lieu of flowers, donations are preferred in Mr. Oules name to Saint Joseph’s Parish Charity, 32890 S. River Road, Clarksburg, California; Attention: Father Dan Madigan.

TULARE – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the creation of a multi-agency gang task force in the Central Valley. The task force includes representatives from the California Department of Justice, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Tulare Sheriff’s Department and the Visalia, Porterville and Tulare police departments. It will focus on investigating and arresting criminal gang members.

“With the creation of this task force, the Department of Justice is better positioned to assist and support Central Valley law enforcement as they strive to combat criminal gangs that are gaining footholds in local jurisdictions. These criminals operate without respect to city and county boundaries and it’s incumbent upon us to combine our efforts to defeat them,” Attorney General Harris said. “In light of the state’s budget crisis, greater collaboration between state and local law enforcement agencies also makes sound fiscal sense.”

The creation of the task force is part of the Attorney General’s broader effort to use the weight of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to convene and support local law enforcement in combating transnational gangs throughout the state. Attorney General Harris made the announcement during the first in a series of region-by-region zone meetings attended by members of the law enforcement community from Merced, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties.

As part of the Central Valley zone meeting, DOJ experts provided training on criminal gangs, as well as new technology using familial DNA to solve crimes. The presentation also included a discussion of a special DOJ Armed and Prohibited Persons program (APPS) that collaborates with local law enforcement to seize handguns and assault weapons from those people banned by law from possessing them. Since the statewide APPS sweeps began last month, agents have confiscated 735 guns from individuals deemed mentally unstable and dangerous.

Attorney General Harris presented awards to 11 individuals in recognition of their deep commitment to serving and protecting their communities. The awardees included sworn officers who displayed uncommon bravery and ingenuity, as well as committed citizen-volunteers.

Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman hosted today’s meeting.

“We are honored to host the inaugural zone meeting here in Tulare County,” said Sheriff Wittman. “We greatly appreciate the Attorney General’s attention to the needs of local law enforcement and look forward to a strong partnership with the Department of Justice.”

The Tulare County Multi-Agency Gang Task Force will be staffed by agents from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and its Bureau of Firearms, as well as officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Visalia Police Department, the Porterville Police Department, the Tulare Police Department and the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department.

The new task force is a continuation of the Attorney General’s statewide effort to fight transnational gangs, from street level crimes to major international conspiracies. Last month, Attorney General Harris visited the California-Mexico border to announce the addition of four DOJ special agents to a multi-agency gang task force in Imperial County. (http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=2063)

IMPERIAL – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today the addition of four Department of Justice special agents to a multi-agency task force in Imperial County that targets the activities of transnational gangs, from street level crime to major international conspiracies.

“Violent gangs don’t respect borders any more than they respect the law,” Attorney General Harris said, “but the collaborative efforts of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have already made great strides in combating gang-related crimes along the border. My office is committed to doing whatever it takes to protect the citizens of California from gang violence and drug-running.”

Organized gangs represent a serious public safety threat in California and their crimes – from drug dealing to gun violence to premeditated murder – reverberate throughout the state.

Attorney General Harris and more than 20 other state leaders came together today to discuss border violence and new opportunities to collaborate in the fight against drug gangs. The group included members of the law enforcement community, federal and state legislators, elected district attorneys, a US attorney, and a representative from the California Department of Corrections.

Along with a tour of the California-Mexico border and a drug smuggling tunnel, the group convened at the Law Enforcement Coordination Center in the town of Imperial. Founded in 1994 in a mobile home trailer, the Center today occupies a 20,000-square-foot facility staffed by more than 100 representatives of local, state and federal agencies.

The chair of the task force, Imperial County District Attorney Gilbert Otero, hosted today’s tour and roundtable discussion.

The attorney general tapped four Department of Justice agents to join the task force, including Special Agent Supervisor Javier Salaiz. Special Agent Salaiz, an expert on border and transnational gang issues, led the recent investigation into a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by a Tijuana drug cartel. The would-be victims – five family members – were said to have owed money to the drug cartel. The individuals who arranged the foiled murder-for-hire plot were arrested last month in Palmdale. http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=2038&

Attorney General Harris is committed to supporting the cooperative efforts of state, federal and local law enforcement agencies to defeat the drug gangs that spill over the border into California.

Photographs from today's event are available on the version of this press release found at ag.ca.gov.

SAN FRANCISCO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris hosted a Smart on Crime Policy Summit today with a veteran, bi-partisan group of leaders from across the state. Ten work groups – focusing on topics ranging from policing to victims’ rights – prepared briefing papers for Attorney General Harris. The papers, dealing with critical issues facing California, were the focus of the summit at U.C. Hastings College of the Law.

The 10 groups drew insights from best practices of other attorneys general, law enforcement leaders, universities, foundations, think tanks and others at the forefront of research, ideas and innovation. More information about the work groups, and the briefing papers, can be found at: www.smartoncrimepolicy.org.

The honorary co-chairs are William Bratton, former Los Angeles Chief of Police; Warren Christopher, former U.S. Secretary of State; Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers; State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco); Constance L. Rice, co-director of The Advancement Project; George Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State; and Kathleen Sullivan, professor and former dean of Stanford Law School.

The following is a list of topic areas and chairs of the 10 work groups:

Civil Rights Enforcement
Bill Lann Lee, Shareholder, Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C.

Education & Truancy
Carlos Garcia, Superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District
Laurene Powell, Co-founder & President of the Board, College Track

Environmental Enforcement
Rick Frank, Director, California Environmental Law & Policy Center, U.C. Davis School of Law
John Poyner, District Attorney, Colusa County

Organized Crime, Gangs and Gun Crime
Lee Baca, Sheriff, Los Angeles County
Charlie Beck, Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department
Rev. Jeff Carr, Chief of Staff, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles
Gilbert Otero, District Attorney, Imperial County
Mike Ramos, District Attorney, San Bernardino County
Jack Weiss, Managing Director & Head of Los Angeles Office, Kroll

Health
Paul Gallegos, District Attorney, Humboldt County
Jane Garcia, CEO, La Clincia de La Raza
Dr. Mitch Katz, Director, Los Angeles Public Health Department
Dr. Bob Ross, President & CEO, The California Endowment

Mortgage Fraud and Consumer Protection
Kelly Dermody, Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein
Dan Grunfeld, Co-Chair, Litigation Department, Kaye Scholer
Greg Totten, District Attorney, Ventura Country

Policing
Tony Batts, Chief of Police, Oakland Police Department
Ron Davis, Chief of Police, East Palo Alto Police Department
George Gascon, District Attorney, San Francisco
Bill Landsdowne, Chief of Police, San Diego Police Department

Reentry & Recidivism Reduction
Lee Baca, Sheriff, Los Angeles County
Bonnie Dumanis, District Attorney, San Diego County
Larry Morse, District Attorney, Merced County
Tim Silard, President, Rosenberg Foundation
Mimi Silbert, President & CEO, Delancey Street Foundation

Technology
Ed Berberian, District Attorney, Marin County
Jack Christin, Jr., Associate General Counsel, eBay/PayPal
David Drummond, Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Google
Fred Humphries, Managing Director, Microsoft
Bruce Ives, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Hewlett-Packard
Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President, iPhone Software, Apple
Mitchell Kapor, Founder, Lotus Development Corporation
Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

Victims' Rights
Gary Lieberstein, District Attorney, Napa County
Nancy O’Malley, District Attorney, Alameda County
Esta Soler, Founder & President, Family Violence Prevention Fund

For additional information, please call the Attorney General’s press office at 510.622.4500.

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PALMDALE – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the arrest today of three suspects in a foiled murder-for-hire plot commissioned by a Tijuana drug cartel.

Dozens of special agents from the California Department of Justice armed with a search warrant conducted the early morning raid at a residence in Palmdale, California.

Arrested there without incident at 6:50 a.m. were Jorge Ernesto Sillas-Rocha, 27, and Victor Manuel Magana Gonzalez, 24, for conspiracy and murder-for-hire. Agents also seized two AR-15 assault weapons, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and an estimated $20,000 in cash.

Agents later arrested Daniel Ceballos, 34, at a Starbuck’s coffee shop in Palmdale.

Also to be charged in the case is Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha, 33, known as “Ruedas,” who is a lieutenant in the Tijuana cartel called the Arrellano Felix Organization, a vicious gang of drug traffickers responsible for violent murders in Mexico.

“This case sends a message to the border drug cartels trying to do business here: Justice will be swift and certain when you cross into California,” Attorney General Harris said. “I applaud our agents and law enforcement partners for their good work in uncovering and thwarting this murder-for-hire plot.”

Ruedas Sillas-Rocha was identified by investigators as soliciting individuals to assassinate victims in California who owed the cartel large sums of money. Ruedas Sillas-Rocha directed these individuals to carry out the murder of five family members in a simulated home-invasion robbery. Ruedas Sillas-Rocha was willing to pay the would-be assassins thousands of dollars for committing the murders.

Earlier this month, agents with the Department of Justice received information about a possible murder-for-hire plot targeting victims who reside in California and who have ties to the Arrellano Felix Cartel. The targeted victims were said to have owed the cartel a large sum of money, believed to be the proceeds from drug sales. Agents used sophisticated investigative techniques to track the suspects to Palmdale, northeast of Los Angeles.

The investigation also implicated Fernando Sanchez Arrellano, the boss of the Arrellano Felix Cartel, in the California murder-for-hire plot. That investigation is ongoing.

Jorge Ernesto Sillas-Rocha, Gonzalez, and Ceballos are being held in the San Diego County Jail. They will be prosecuted by the San Diego County District Attorney, who is also expected to issue a warrant for Ruedas Sillas-Rocha’s arrest.

RIVERSIDE – One of the nation’s largest potato growers has been indicted by a Riverside County Criminal Grand Jury on charges of laundering campaign contributions in violation of state law.

James Larry Minor, 70, of San Jacinto in Riverside County, is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow morning at 10 in Department 52 of Riverside County Superior Court. The indictment charges him with conspiracy to violate the state Political Reform Act by donating money in the name of another, committing perjury, and filing a false document.

Minor is owner of Agri-Empire Corp. in San Jacinto, which ships millions of potatoes destined for fast food restaurants and family kitchens to supermarkets and brokers across the nation. Its predecessor, San Jacinto Packing Company, was founded by the Minor family in 1943 with an $800 loan.

Minor is accused of illegally donating nearly $40,000 in the names of family members (including his sons, daughter, son-in-law and daughters-in-law), friends, and business associates to the Jeff Stone for State Senate Campaign in 2009. The practice is known as money laundering because it is designed to hide the true source of campaign donations and allows an individual to exceed the legal limits for donating to a state political campaign. The limit was $3,900 in 2009.

Minor is also accused of perjury and filing a false statement in connection with his donations to the Committee to Elect Brenda Salas for State Assembly Campaign in 2006. The limit that year was $3,300, and Minor contributed a total of $26,400 in the names of others. Minor illegally filed a major donor statement with the Fair Political Practices Commission under penalty of perjury that failed to list any of those donations to Salas.

Minor faces a maximum sentence of four years and eight months in state prison, and a fine of $60,000 imposed by the FPPC.

The indictment, issued by the grand jury in December, will be unsealed at tomorrow’s court hearing.

The money laundering investigation was conducted by the Attorney General’s Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence. It was presented to the grand jury by Deputy Attorney General Alana Cohen Butler of the criminal division.

YUBA CITY – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today the arrests of five members of a white supremacist gang based in Yuba County. The gang members were arrested on charges of smuggling heroin into Susanville State Prison in the glue strips of letters mailed to inmates associated with the “New Order” gang.

Each glue strip contained nearly one gram of heroin, which is worth about $500 inside prison – five times its street value. According to arrest documents, the drug shipments were used as barter or to curry favor with other white supremacist inmates from groups such as the Aryan Nation or Nazi Low Riders.

“Today’s operation demonstrates the criminal ingenuity of inmates and their associates outside of prison walls,” Attorney General Harris said. “This operation successfully attacked the criminal activity at its root. To ensure the safety of our neighborhoods and law enforcement officers, we must be vigilant about combating gang activity wherever it occurs.”

The investigation, named Operation Forseti for the Norse god of justice, resulted in the arrests of five gang members on suspicion of engaging in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in a prison, and five other gang associates on a variety of charges. Two weapons, three grams of heroin, and approximately one-quarter ounce of methamphetamine were confiscated. Investigators served search warrants at seven locations in the Yuba City area.

Operation Forseti was a joint investigation by the California Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol, Yuba City Police, Yuba County Sheriff, Marysville Police, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Services Unit, and the Yuba/Sutter Gang Task Force.

The investigation was launched in November 2010 after a Susanville prison guard noticed a suspicious envelope sent to inmate Robin Conley Briggs, a member of the New Order gang. Analysis of the envelope’s glue strip at a state Department of Justice laboratory confirmed that it was laced with heroin.

In late January 2011, investigators intercepted two more envelopes containing heroin sent to Briggs and inmate Scotty William Brendlin, a fellow New Order member. Using surveillance techniques, investigators determined that Briggs and Brendlin had used associates in the Yuba City area to smuggle heroin to them inside the prison.

Investigators suspect many more heroin-laden envelopes may have been shipped into the prison.

The New Order Gang was founded in the Yuba City area 30 years ago. The original gang of 15 members banded together to promote white supremacy. Although gang members spouted racist rhetoric, their primary activity was dealing drugs, especially methamphetamine.

One of the founders was George William Lancaster, considered the godfather of the white supremacist movement in Yuba County. He has served a six-year prison sentence for possessing a controlled substance in custody. His criminal record over 20 years includes arrests for false imprisonment, kidnapping, burglary, car theft and weapons violations. Lancaster was arrested today.

Other New Order gang members arrested today include Robert Harold Boyd of Yuba County, Elissia Danielle Soito of Marysville, Benjamin Leon Andrade of Yuba City, and Mickey Ray Jeffrey of Yuba City. They are being held in the Yuba County Jail.

LOS ANGELES -- Martin Vasquez, 43, one of the ringleaders of a million-dollar Southern California car theft ring that employed phony DMV documents and stolen driver’s license numbers, was arraigned today in Los Angeles Superior Court.

All three men named in a complaint filed last week by the state Department of Justice have now been taken into custody and arraigned on multiple counts of theft and conspiracy in connection with the use of fraudulent DMV documents to clear the titles of two dozen vehicles so they could be sold at auction or to individuals. The estimated value of the stolen cars was $1.2 million.

Luis Marroquin, 64, of Huntington Park was arraigned Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Marroquin’s bail was set at $700,000. He is being held in Los Angeles County Jail.

Marroquin and Kirsio Cruz, 46, of Norco were arrested Thursday after an investigation by the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Cruz was released Friday on $150,000 bail after arraignment.

Vasquez was arrested late Tuesday night at a coffee shop in Southgate. His bail was set at $355,000.

Vasquez and Marroquin ran a smog shop and a fraudulent registration service called Latinos Smog in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, according to documents filed in the case. To advance their scheme, they used fraudulent California driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, notary stamps and CHP and DMV rubber stamps to “wash” vehicles of their lien holders.

Their use of stolen driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers put innocent, and unwitting, citizens at risk of further identity theft abuses and loss of credit.

Here’s an example of how the scheme worked: In October 2007, a phony DMV release of lien holder form was filed, removing Toyota Motor Credit as the lien holder for a 2005 Toyota Camry registered to an Inglewood man. That “washed” a lien of $27,261.16 on the car, unbeknownst to Toyota Credit, which tried to repossess the car and then wrote off the vehicle when it could not be located. It was later recovered by Oakland police.

In another instance, a 2005 BMW 645i was purchased using a stolen driver’s license and a stolen Social Security number belonging to innocent citizens. The company that financed the purchase then had its lien removed through a forged document filed with DMV, a process that allowed the car to be sold at auction by the car thieves.

A silver metal briefcase and other containers found in a Ford Taurus parked at Latinos Smog, according to a CHP inventory, contained at least 125 stamps, including stamps for Hawthorne, Pasadena and several other DMV locations; notary public #48012714 stamp; a CHP stamp; a stamp for Toyota Motor Credit; stamps for various other auto financing agencies; and stamps for auto auctions in Fontana, Riverside and elsewhere in Southern California.

The investigation into the car theft ring continues.

A copy of the complaint is attached.

SACRAMENTO – A Citrus Heights computer hacker pleaded guilty to seven felony charges for breaking into hundreds of women’s e-mail accounts, the sort of identity theft crime that Californians should take steps to protect themselves against, according to Attorney General Kamala D. Harris.

“This case highlights the fact that anyone with an e-mail account is vulnerable to identity theft,” Attorney General Harris said. “One of the major goals of my office is to track down and prosecute every criminal who would stoop to stealing people’s identities.”

George Samuel Bronk, 23, of Citrus Heights, faces six years in state prison after entering guilty pleas today in Sacramento Superior Court to seven felonies including computer intrusion, false impersonation and possession of child pornography. Bronk will have to register as a sex offender. He will return to court on March 10 for further proceedings relating to his sentence.

From December 2009 through September 2010, Bronk accessed e-mail accounts and Facebook pages of people in 17 states, as well as residents of England. He essentially found answers to the women’s e-mail security questions in information they had posted on their Facebook sites.

Bronk targeted his victims by scanning Facebook for women who also posted their e-mail addresses there. He then contacted the woman’s e-mail service, pretending he was the legitimate customer, and claimed to have forgotten the password. Bronk was able to correctly answer security questions posed by the e-mail service by finding the answers on victims’ Facebook pages.

Some of the security questions posed by e-mail providers included, “What is your high school mascot?” “What is your father’s middle name?” “What is your favorite food?” and “What is your favorite color?”

Once Bronk gained access to the e-mail account, he changed the password and the victim was locked out.

Bronk searched the victim’s “sent mail” folder for nude or semi-nude photographs and videos, which he often sent to the victim’s entire e-mail address book. He also gained access to some victims’ Facebook accounts by clicking the “Forgot Your Password?” link and asking for a new password to be sent to the victim’s e-mail account, which he now controlled. In many cases, he posted the photographs to victims’ Facebook pages and to other Internet sites and made comments on the Facebook sites of friends.

Bronk messaged one victim that he had taken over her e-mail account “because it was funny.” In an online chat session with another victim using the name “xogreeneyesx3,” Bronk demanded the victim send him more explicit photographs or he would post the photographs he already had more widely. The victim complied.

The investigation began after one victim contacted the Connecticut State Police, and the agency then contacted the California Highway Patrol because the suspect appeared to be operating here. The CHP requested the Attorney General’s assistance.

On the hard drive of Bronk’s desktop computer, which was confiscated from his Citrus Heights’ home during a search in September, investigators found more than 170 files containing explicit photographs of women, including a film actress, whose e-mail accounts he had commandeered. Finding victims, however, proved a challenge. CHP and Attorney General agents were able to use location tagging information embedded on the photographs on Bronk’s hard drive to assist in identifying victims, and e-mailed 3,200 questionnaires to potential victims asking them to come forward.

Some 46 victims did, including one who described Bronk’s actions as “virtual rape.”

Bronk was arrested in October and has been held since then on $500,000 bail.

Attorney General Harris reminded users of e-mail and social networking sites that security questions and answers need to be as secure as passwords. There are steps people can take to avoid being victimized by “security question” hacks. These steps include:

•Pick security questions and answers that do not involve any personal information that is available from social networking sites or any other sites.

•Try to switch the security questions you choose for password protection on e-mail services and social networks.

•Add numbers or special characters to your security answers. For example, the question 'What was the name of your High School' could be answered “Middle02High@School.”

Joining the Attorney General’s office in this investigation were the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, the CHP, and the Connecticut State Police. The Attorney General’s office prosecuted the case.

For more information about identity theft, please see http://ag.ca.gov/idtheft/.

The arrest warrant and complaint are attached at the Attorney General’s website www.ag.ca.gov.