Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On March 19th, 2010, Detectives and Officers from the Santa Paula Police, with the assistance of Unites States Federal Agents, conducted a parole search in the 700 block of Fillmore St., Santa Paula, regarding a delivery of false documents made to the address.

The delivery contained over $845,000 in fraudulent checks from Nigeria. During the search, officials discovered additional packaging containing over $640,000 in the same fraudulent checks. Also discovered was packaging similar to the afore mentioned deliveries, which had contained a similar amount of checks from Nigeria.

Additional evidence was obtained in the search leading to the arrest of Cathy Pye 43 years of age, and a resident of Santa Paula. Pye admitted to receiving the checks and forwarding the checks to individuals across the United States. The approximate total loss to victims is $1,500,000.

In her statement to detectives, Pye said she took $170,000 worth of the checks to a location in Los Angeles County. Those checks were recovered as part of this investigation. Pye was booked at Ventura County Jail for “Possession and Passing of Fraudulent Checks”, and is currently in custody with a set bail of $750,000.

Please forward all inquires to Det. Sgt. Ismael Cordero or Det. Daniel Kiernan at (805) 525-4474, Ext. 116.

R.M. Smith # 1021
Police Sergeant