Milwaukie man sentenced to prison for ID theft after Christmas Day 2022 break-in

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – A Milwaukie man was sentenced to prison on Monday after a Christmas Day 2022 car break-in led authorities to find over 1,000 identity theft-related items in his car, according to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.

Officials said 52-year-old Trino Lopez was sentenced to 12 years in prison after facing more than a dozen ID theft and forgery charges, along with firearm theft and felon in possession of a firearm charges.

The sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to 21 criminal counts in March.

The charges stem from a reported car break-in on Christmas morning in 2022 in which the victim reported $8,000 worth of stolen items – including a still-in-the-box firearm.

An Apple air tag led Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputies to the Kings Manor Apartments in Milwaukie, where they found a vehicle Lopez was driving.

Deputies stopped the vehicle for traffic violations, and after noticing the firearm box in the vehicle, arrested Lopez and his fiancé Tyanna Fitzpatrick.

Deputies searched Lopez and found a variety of ID cards, credit cards, and checkbooks that did not belong to him, along with a temporary Oregon driver’s license with Lopez’s face on it, but a different person’s name.

Deputies later searched his vehicle and found around 1,100 photos of ID theft-related items, including printers, blank checks, and more ID cards with his face but different names on the cards.

Authorities also found washed checks — checks that were stolen from the mail with the payment and amount “washed away” from the check by the person who stole them. The district attorney’s office said one of the checks totaled $92,000.

Another victim learned Lopez had their tax returns and copies of their entire family’s social security cards.

With at least 200 victims, officials said the damage is “incalculable.”

“It was incredibly helpful that the victims in the case were cooperative and willing to come to court,” said Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Jones. “That was a big reason to change his plea to guilty in the middle of the trial because he saw how much evidence we had against him. And putting faces to names really resonates with jurors.”

Fitzpatrick faces more than 40 criminal counts and is in Clackamas County Jail with bail set at $630,000.

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