Photo: Geiman Romero
Ventura County – The 911 Emergency phone call made by an alert bank employee on October 10, 2019 reporting suspicious-acting individuals in the company of an elderly female bank patron as she made a substantial cash withdrawal continues to provide positive results with the October 23rd arrest of 48-year-old Los Angeles resident Geiman Romero.
It all began when the elderly woman was the targeted by Romero and his co-conspirator, 63-year-old Nelson Davila Cruz. The two men told the woman they held a winning lottery ticket, but that they needed help cashing it due to their nationality.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Vince Alvarez, Cruz and Romero actually “provided the victim with a ride to her bank” so that she could withdraw funds that would enable them to then cash their “winning lottery ticket.”
Once inside the bank—after convincing the victim that “the money will be repaid” when they collect their winnings—the woman proceeded to “withdraw a majority her balance.” It was at that point that “an alert teller felt the transaction was out of the norm” and bank personnel called the cops.
As officers from the Fillmore Police Department arrived on the scene, Cruz—who was inside the bank at the time—was contacted, questioned, and arrested. While that was happening, Romero and an unidentified female suspect were waiting outside in a vehicle and they promptly drove off and made good their escape.
With Cruz in custody, the ensuing investigation led to the identification and whereabouts of Romero. He was contacted and arrested on the 23rd, and transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on charges of obtaining money by false pretenses, conspiracy to commit a crime, and elder abuse with his bail set at $500,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
