Auburn AMPM Theft Lands 3 Arrests
AUBURN (CBS13) – Three people from Sacramento County were arrested in Auburn after over $200 worth of items were stolen from an AMPM after a couple's credit cards were declined, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said on Friday.
The scene was at the AMPM on Lincoln Way in Auburn at around 3 a.m. on Aug. 24, authorities said.
A woman entered the store with a Styrofoam container and allegedly filled it with several items. Authorities said a man then entered the store and joined the woman, identified as 40-year-old Lois Lynna Mataafa, at the front counter to pay.
Once their cards declined, the man – identified as 35-year-old Alexander Wright – took the container and walked out of the store to a getaway vehicle driven by a suspect later identified as 40-year-old Angela Sidey, investigators said.
Authorities were alerted to the theft by the store clerk and deputies said they found the suspects at a gas station in Colfax and took them into custody.
Sidey was found to have a warrant issued in San Joaquin County and a suspended driver's license. Wright was found to be on probation out of Sacramento County and Mataafa was discovered to have two outstanding warrants in Sacramento County and was on parole, authorities said.
The stolen items from AMPM, 18 blank credit cards, a cutting device that was set to a credit card's length, a notebook containing credit card and bank account numbers, stolen checkbooks, a stolen wallet, and over two dozen ecstasy pills were located during a search of the getaway car, investigators said.
After being taken to the Auburn Jail, Sidey allegedly tossed a stolen driver's license and stolen social security card in a trash can. While being searched at the jail, Mataafa was found to be in possession of three baggies of methamphetamine, authorities said.
