By Neil Farrell ~
Morro Bay Police cracked a burglary case involving the old “distraction” scam, and two people were arrested for allegedly grabbing the cash and running, with a third being sought.
The case started during the late night of Oct. 11 at the San Marcos Best Western Inn. According to police, “an unknown female suspect wearing a bandanna over her face entered the lobby of the Best Western San Marcos Inn, 250 Pacific St., and stole money from a cash drawer. Other suspects were reported to have distracted the on-duty hotel clerk from the lobby while the crime was committed.”
Police were able to view a surprisingly clear surveillance video in the lobby and right away, identified a possible suspect, along with “physical evidence collected at the scene.”
With the alert sent out to neighboring agencies, on Oct. 22, Sheriff’s deputies were investigating an unrelated incident in Nipomo and had the information about the motel rip-off case.
MBPD officers responded to that scene and arrested Jennifer Goins, 28 of Cambria, and Nikolas Lovato, 27 of Arroyo Grande on suspicion of burglary and criminal conspiracy.
A third suspect has reportedly been identified and charges are pending for that person, as well, according to police.
The distraction scam is one of the oldest and simplest theft tricks around, and can result in thieves grabbing whatever cash or merchandise is at hand with small losses, or more sophisticated scams that can steal thousands in merchandise.
MBPD Cmdr. Bryan Millard said the clear surveillance video was a key in solving the crime and added that they released a still shot from it to encourage other businesses to upgrade their surveillance systems.
Many such videos are too dark or of such low-resolution to be of much good to investigators.
