A man who targeted elderly women, Gabriel Tovar, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices.
Tovar, age 46, was responsible for eight different burglaries where purses were taken from a victim’s vehicle.
Between the beginning of June and the end of July 2018 Tovar targeted older women who were alone at shopping centers in the West Valley. The defendant would contact the women either in the parking lots of the shopping centers or after following them home. Tovar would usually try to convince the victim there was something wrong with their cars and once the victim went to look for the bogus issue, Tovar would take their purse and leave in his truck. Tovar would then quickly use the victims credit or debit cards for purchases.
On July 31st Tovar was taken into custody by adult probation and interviewed about his involvement in these crimes. He admitted to investigators he was tricking women to take their purses.