Two people are facing felony fraud, forgery and identity theft charges after sheriff's deputies raided their homes early Thursday, uncovering hundreds of items investigators say were tied to forged-document production along with stolen credit cards and passports. Katie Rhew, 44, was taken into custody at her home in Temecula, while 46-year-old Michael Sundstrom was arrested at his home in San Marcos, according to authorities.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office deputies executed the two search warrants around 7 a.m. Thursday, as reported by ABC 10News San Diego. Investigators say the fraud investigation reached victims across San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties, as well as Arizona — at least three Southern California counties plus a fourth state, per the outlet's reporting.
Rhew is suspected of burglary, forgery, criminal conspiracy, identity theft and possession of personal identifying information belonging to more than 10 victims, according to the same report. She also faces a suspected methamphetamine possession count and, notably, a charge of committing a felony while released on bail. Sundstrom, meanwhile, is suspected of possession of stolen property, identity theft, mail theft and criminal conspiracy. Both were booked into the Vista Detention Facility following the morning raids.
A Familiar Face for San Marcos Detectives
This is not Rhew's first run-in with San Marcos Sheriff's detectives. In August 2024, the same unit arrested her during a traffic stop in Temecula after tracing her to a San Marcos home burglary, recovering more than $5,000 in stolen luxury designer bags along with stolen packages from De Luz, according to a Times of San Diego report from that arrest. She was booked into Vista Jail at the time on residential burglary and identity theft charges, a case Hoodline covered in a piece titled San Marcos and Temecula Burglary Suspect Arrested, Luxury Goods and Stolen Packages Recovered.
The relationship between that earlier case and the bail-jump allegation now attached to Rhew's arrest is unclear. Under California Penal Code Section 12022.1, committing a new felony while out on bail or own recognizance for a prior felony can lead to a two-year sentencing enhancement if a defendant is convicted on both cases, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. The enhancement must be proved and is generally stayed until sentencing on the primary offense. It remains an open question whether the forged documents and stolen personal information recovered this week are connected to the same burglary ring investigated in 2024, or the exact dollar value of the property seized in Thursday's raids.
Why the Identity Theft Charge Carries Extra Weight
Rhew's identity theft allegation concerns possession of personal identifying information belonging to more than 10 people with fraudulent intent, per the Shouse Law Group. Deputies say they recovered PII belonging to more than 10 victims during the searches. Separately, victims can complete local identity-theft crime reports.
A Regional Hub Facing a Statewide Problem
The San Marcos Sheriff's Station, which led the investigation, serves a territory of 100 square miles across North San Diego County and operates out of a facility that opened in 2001. The area also saw June-through-August enforcement activity, including narcotics-related arrests.
The case also lands amid a surge in identity theft across California. The state recorded 135,575 identity theft reports in just the first three quarters of 2025 — an average of roughly 497 new victims a day — and led the nation in total volume, according to data from OmniWatch. Total financial fraud losses statewide reached $1.7 billion across more than 215,000 reports in 2025. The San Diego metro area alone logged 10,260 identity theft reports that year, ranking 60th nationally among metro areas with 313 victims per 100,000 residents, while California as a whole ranked eighth in the nation for per-capita identity theft rates.
It remains unclear whether federal agencies such as the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will join the prosecution given the mail theft allegations against Sundstrom and the case's interstate reach into Arizona. Both were booked into the Vista Detention Facility, which serves as the primary intake hub for sheriff's arrests across San Marcos and the surrounding North County communities.
