Three arrested for check fraud, meth use near toddler in SLO
Suspects are, from left, are Arnoldo Silva, Lamont Taylor and Christine Vulich.
On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo Police Department began receiving complaints from local businesses about two males and a female who had been passing fraudulent checks throughout the city. One of the victims was able to provide the police department with a license plate and vehicle description. The police also received photos of two involved suspects at the CVS store in San Luis Obispo.
On Wednesday, a San Luis Obispo Police officer located the suspects’ vehicle in a motel parking lot in the 1500 block of Calle Joaquin. A traffic stop was conducted and evidence of fraudulent check manufacturing was seen inside the car. Suspects Lamont Taylor and Christine Vulich were both taken into custody on fraud-related charges.
Taylor and Vulich told officers they had a room at one of the nearby motels and that their 3-year-old daughter was still in the room under the care of a friend, Arnoldo Silva. Investigators went to the room to check the welfare of the child and found Silva unresponsive in the room due to drug use, police say.
The young girl was present and alert. She was found in extremely unhealthy conditions with methamphetamine and drug smoking equipment readily accessible to her. She was immediately taken for an emergency medical evaluation and was placed into the custody of County Child Welfare Services.
Additional evidence in the motel room linked the suspects to ongoing check fraud cases being investigated by the San Luis Obispo and Atascadero Police Departments. Currently these suspects are believed to be responsible for approximately $160,000 in fraud related losses with additional losses expected.
All three suspects were booked into custody at the San Luis Obispo County Jail with bail set at $150,000.
Anyone with information about this crime is encouraged to call the San Luis Obispo Police Department at 805-781-7312 or Crime Stoppers at 805-549-STOP.
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