BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Brockton police are looking for additional victims after they say they arrested a woman who impersonated an officer to steal personal belongings during a recent crime spree.
Carla Gomez Darosa, 40, of Boston is facing 16 charges in connection with a string of thefts dating back to October during which she allegedly impersonated a police officer and a member of the Salvation Army to gain access to people’s homes and their property, according to police.
“We started investigating and found out that Karla Gomez DeRosa had stolen bank and financial information from unsuspecting people here in Brockton Rockland Abington,” department spokesperson Darren Duarte said.
The thefts began on Dec. 23, when police say she took a wallet from a man on Bunker Avenue. Surveillance video shows her looking through mailboxes in the man’s building before taking off.
Later that day, she allegedly told the residents at a home on Montello Street she was a police officer and searched their home without providing any form of identification. The victims at that home said she stole a wallet from them as well.
She later hit a home on East Ashland Street by telling the family she worked for the Salvation Army and needed to see if the family needed help buying holiday gifts, according to the release issued by police. She allegedly took a purse and took off in a Black Mercedes Benz that authorities believe she drove to other crime scenes.
“If it can happen to me and you know I work with people in the community then it can happen to anyone,” Stoughton resident Tamisha Civil told 7NEWS after she was informed by Brockton police that she had been a victim of mail theft in connection with this investigation.
Investigators obtained a search warrant and found items in her apartment that link her to a series of thefts that occurred in October as well, police said.
“There’s so many financial documents that’s not in her name,” Duarte said. “She drove a black Mercedes Benz that we now have in custody, she bought with stolen cash, and stolen credit cards, and that car is in someone else’s name.”
Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim in Darosa’s alleged thefts is asked to contact police at 508-941-0234.
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