Former Sheriff’s Deputy Charged With Stealing Dead Woman’s Credit Cards to Shop on QVC

A former sheriff’s deputy has been billed with thieving credit score playing cards from a dead female.

© Robyn Beck/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
A previous Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy has been billed with stealing credit history playing cards from a lifeless female. In this image, a prisoner is observed from driving at the Orange County Jail on March 14, 2017, in Orange, California.

Steve Hortz, 42, of San Dimas, California, allegedly stole a few playing cards from a residence in the city of Yorba Linda, where he experienced been sent to conduct a welfare test in August 2020.

Load Mistake

The girl he experienced been despatched to obtain was useless on his arrival.

Immediately after allegedly getting the credit score playing cards, Hortz, a 12-calendar year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Workplace, reportedly experimented with making use of them to make thousands of bucks of online buys. This incorporated numerous auto components, as nicely as goods from QVC, according to KTLA. Nearly all of these purchases have been declined.

Hortz was charged on Friday with four felony counts of attempted grand theft, one particular felony rely of id theft, and a single felony rely of grand theft embezzlement. He faces a most sentence of 4 yrs and four months if convicted, ABC 7 stories.

Hortz has a history of new legal difficulties and felony activity.

Past September, he was arrested in excess of different rates stemming from a wellness test he helped perform in July with two other deputies.

Soon after discovering that the property owner was found deceased because of to purely natural results in, Hortz was caught on surveillance footage returning the house numerous times to steal $27,000 worthy of of guns and other merchandise, which include a gun safe and sound and some ceiling fans. A single of these return journeys occurred although he was on obligation.

Adhering to his arrest, Hortz resigned from the Sheriff’s Business office successful September 30, 2020. In December, he was indicted on three felony counts of second-diploma theft and two felony counts of grand theft of a firearm.

“This person was named to aid grieving people in a time of have to have and as an alternative he betrayed their belief,” Orange County District Lawyer Todd Spitzer explained. “This habits is unworthy of someone who wears the badge and thankfully as a end result of the Orange County Sheriff’s Division investigation, he is no for a longer period in a position the place he can use his uniform and badge to victimize the very people he was sworn to secure.”

The Orange County Sheriff’s Place of work said that it is investigating whether or not Hortz fully commited further thefts through his time serving for the office.

“I will do everything we can to make positive he does not return to a uniform in this group or anywhere else for that make a difference,” Sheriff Don Barnes informed the press after Hortz’s indictment. “He is ashamed this occupation, he’s humiliated this organization, and he is humiliated the almost 4,000 users who do fantastic do the job every single day.”

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