EDWARD BEDROSIAN A man is in custody in the Central Valley for identity theft, and he is the main suspect for a number of similar cases in Mariposa County. Edward Bedrosian of Fresno was arrested in Clovis earlier this week, and appears to be the same person who has a local person’s identification information.

Mariposa County Sheriff’s Detective Jeremy Briese said Bedrosian was arrested in possession of two fake California identification cards with his picture on them and some fake checks. He was linked to the Mariposa case through a surveillance video.

“He is the main suspect in our case,” Briese said. “Hopefully, we’ve stopped a ring of ID theft,” with Bedrosian’s arrest, Briese said. The suspect had identification information for victims in Mariposa, Fresno and Bakersfield.

Briese said technological advances are making this kind of crime more prevalent. “It seems like it’s becoming more and more common,” the detective said. The department is also working on another identity theft case out of Modesto.

While no cases have been reported locally, a new scam is using the jury selection process to steal a person’s identity. Someone calls and claims to be a jury coordinator, if the person says he or she didn’t get a jury summons, the scam artist asks for a Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can cancel the arrest warrant.

No court would use these kind of measures. There is more information about this scam at www.fbi.gov.