Identity Theft Fugitive Assaults Detective, Heads to Jail

The missing piece to the identity theft puzzle that plagued the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office in August was found Friday evening, when deputies arrested Erin Boetzer.

Boetzer was when she ran from deputies on the 2600 block of Orchard Street. After she fled the scene that day, they found loaded guns, drugs and stolen items in a vehicle outside the residence where she was spotted.

In the week that followed, two of her co-conspirators in a county-wide identity theft ring were arrested. Bernard Gomez and Jovana Moller were apprehended in Watsonville and Santa Cruz respectively.

On Thursday, the . Inside they found stolen mail and other stolen property, but no sign of Boetzer.

Just a day later, her stint on the run came to an end. On Friday at 6:30 p.m., Boetzer was spotted in Santa Cruz where detectives followed her to the end of a dead end street leading to the La Fonda bridge. 

"Boetzer did not stop and intentionally rammed her vehicle into a detective’s vehicle to get away," Deputy April Skalland said in a prepared statement. 

Another sheriff's vehicle attempted to stop her, but she failed to yield. After what Skalland called a "brief pursuit," Boetzer stopped and was taken into custody. 

The detective hit by Boetzer was treated at Dominican Hospital for minor injuries.

Inside Boetzer's vehicle, detectives found "heroin for sale, methamphetamine for sale, stolen driver’s licenses, stolen checks, stolen credit cards and other identity theft items," Skalland said. 

Boetzer was taken to jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, felony evading, resisting arrest with injuries to an officer, identity theft, mail theft and possession of narcotics for sale. 

On Thursday afternoon, the Sheriff's Office released a . Many of the victims did not even realize they had been targeted, Skalland said. to make sure your name does not appear.