A Southern California woman was arrested after police discovered she had been filing false domestic violence reports and then robbing people after they were taken into police custody, according to news reports.
The Orange County Register reported that Sunmee Kim, 36, would use a false identity on Korean dating sites and target Korean businessmen, whom she would strike up a quick relationship with. Kim would then force a confrontation in order to call the cops on the victim and when they were arrested she would rob their homes and leave.
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Kim was arrested on Dec. 21, a week after police say she filed a false domestic violence report in Irvine against a 44-year-old businessman. A police officer became suspicious after the photo in the ID Kim provided didn’t look like her. After running her fingerprints, the name that came up did not match the name on her ID. When confronted, Kim fled.
At the time of her arrest, Kim had two warrants outstanding, in connection with similar incidents in 2009 and 2010.
Authorities also believe that Kim may be tied to three additional cases, including:
•An Orange police case from August 2011 in which Kim is alleged to have reported that a businessman she had a brief relationship with, along with his family, had kidnapped and assaulted her. While the family was in custody, police allege, Kim stole their property, along with financial documents and paperwork with personal identification.
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•When Kim fled from the Irvine officer who confronted her, investigators say, she left behind paperwork identifying a woman she had met on the Internet who was visiting from Korea. They allege Kim allowed the woman to stay with her in Los Angeles, tricked her into leaving the apartment while visiting a day spa and while she was gone stole her clothing, jewelry and passports.
•When Kim was found in Koreatown at the time of her arrest, investigators say, she was staying with a Korean woman she had met a few days earlier. They allege she had claimed to have been recovering from cancer and that she was in the process of stealing the woman’s identity.
Lt. Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Dept. told the O.C. Register their investigation “revealed a long, complex pattern of false identities and false reports” which have led to her committing “grand theft, extortion, fraud and identity theft.”
“Our fear is that she has successfully pulled this off under assumed names in the past and the people for whatever reason haven’t reported it,” Engen told the publication.
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