ARROYO GRANDE - On October 23, 2012, Mayor Tony Ferrara will recognize Arroyo Grande Police Detective Erik Jensen with the Mayor's Commendation for receiving the 2012 "Law Enforcement Partner of the Year Award "presented by the Sears Holding Corporation.
The Sears Holdings Corporation is a leading integrated retailer with over 2,600 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada and is most commonly known through their Sears and K-Mart retail locations.
In a ceremony held at Sears Holdings Corporation headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on October 22nd, Detective Erik Jensen received recognition for his work uncovering a sophisticated fraud ring.
Stemming from an arrest at the Arroyo Grande K-Mart in February of 2011, followed by several search warrants in Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and San Luis Obispo, AGPD Detectives and Officers seized narcotics, guns, stolen property and credit card cloning equipment.
Detective Jensen took the case further and his persistent follow up helped lead to nineteen different charges against members of a fraud ring which included ID theft, felon in possession of firearms, possession of narcotics for sales, and forgery.
Detective Jensen also reviewed surveillance footage and identified additional suspects.
The national selection committee credited Detective Jensen's efforts with causing credit card cloning fraud losses to plunge from $100,000 to $0 in one month, following the arrests.
Additional losses to other retailers were estimated at well over a million dollars. Citing Detective Jensen's investigative abilities and willingness to create partnerships with other agencies, the committee said the arrests also prevented hundreds of citizens across the country from becoming victims of this fraud ring.
After reviewing numerous other nominations from across the United States, the award cited this investigation, and Detective Jensen's performance as "Case of the Year."
