ST. GEORGE — A California judge has issued a $25,000 warrant for a woman being held in Washington County following her arrest last month after she was reportedly tied to a string of thefts in St. George and Washington City.
A Southern California woman, Fernanda Munoz-Ferrada, 20, was arrested in July and now faces a $25,000 fugitive warrant obtained by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 2. The defendant failed to appear in a California courtroom on felony possession of burglary tools and criminal conspiracy charges.
On Wednesday, the Washington County Attorney’s Office filed a fugitive complaint involving Ferrada after receiving notification from the Superior Court of California that she was wanted in Ventura County.
The defendant has been in jail in Washington County since her arrest in Washington City on July 1, following a string of reported thefts at multiple retailers in Washington City and St. George, according to charging documents filed at the time of the arrest. Authorities believe the crimes were part of one of the international crime groups hitting the area.
The first report involved a customer shopping at a retail store on North 3050 East in St. George who reported that her wallet had been taken out of her cart. She then received a notification from the bank advising that her credit card had been used to charge more than $1,750 in merchandise from a retailer in Washington City.
While patrol units were being dispatched to the store in Washington City where the cards were being used, another call came into emergency dispatch reporting a theft in progress at a third retailer and involving the same couple working in concert to steal a customer’s purse. But when they failed, the couple left the store, allegedly taking hundreds of dollars in merchandise without paying.
The suspect’s vehicle was spotted by an officer who who conducted a traffic stop on West Telegraph Street in Washington City, where the pair handed over their Puerto Rican ID cards which later turned out to be fake. Both were accurately identified through an FBI database as Ferrada, the passenger, while the driver was identified as Rodrigo Baeza-Araya, 20, also of Southern California.
Both were booked into jail in Washington County and held without bail on multiple charges that included second-degree felony pattern of unlawful activity and third-degree felony theft financial card charges, along with several misdemeanor counts of theft.
Consequently, when the hearing was held in Superior Court in California, Ferrada was still in jail in Utah so a warrant was issued for her arrest.
At the time of the arrest in Washington City, investigators noted there were numerous reports of similar thefts and distraction crimes that have taken place across the county over the last few years. Detectives concluded the pair were working in concert as part of a criminal organization to carry out distraction thefts, a ploy commonly used by a group known by the FBI as South American Theft Groups.
These groups are known to travel around the country committing retail thefts, distraction thefts, drop scams theft and vehicle burglaries, similar to Ferrada’s criminal case in California.
In a report published by St. George News on Wednesday, three suspects were involved in the May theft of two purses stolen while the customers were shopping, leading instigators to suspect the incidents were part of one of the distraction crime rings that recently hit the area, according to the affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrant.
The three suspects were identified as Columbian Nationals and the trio was arrested in Wisconsin. One of the suspects was extradited to Utah and is being held in Washington County on a no-bail hold.
In July, three suspects, two Chilean Nationals and one from Puerto Rico reportedly were tied to a string of crimes across Washington County, were arrested by Washington County Sheriff’s deputies responding to a vehicle burglary at Snow Canyon State Park. The suspects were in possession of iPads purchased from two local big-box retailers, several credit cards, purses, wallets, luggage and multiple receipts for items purchased using credit cards stolen from numerous vehicles in multiple jurisdictions.
Also in July, a burglary reported at a jewelry store at Red Cliffs Mall in St. George reportedly involved an international crime group that reportedly took more than $500,000 in expensive watches that were stored in a safe the suspects bored into before exiting the mall.
In March, the St. George Police Department reported an “alarming uptick” in the number of thefts involving crime groups that are passing through and exploiting the public — and taking whatever they can in the process. The incident prompted the department to issue a warning to the public to maintain situational awareness and not leave their valuables in plain sight.
Ferrada remains in custody in Washington County on a no-bail hold on the current case, as well as the out-of-state warrant.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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