Adan Romero A Los Angeles man has been arrested in connection with a string of local purse snatches.

On Oct. 14, police searched Adan Romero’s Los Angeles apartment and discovered stolen property including wallets, purses and thousands of dollars in cash.

Police allege dozens of purse snatchings in Ventura and Los Angeles counties were committed by the 60-year-old Romero. On Oct. 16, Ventura County prosecu- tors charged him with 30 counts that include six enhancements for prior felonies.

The arrest came after a fourmonth investigation. Since June, Romero allegedly committed 17 thefts in Thousand Oaks, three in Simi Valley, eight in Agoura Hills and nine in the Crescenta Valley. In one of the thefts, a witness followed the suspect outside the store and wrote down his license plate number.

The plate was from Texas, but the suspect hadn’t registered the car in California and had no driver’s license or auto insurance, making it harder for police to track him.

When Romero was arrested and his fingerprints were taken, police discovered he had used 20 different names and birthdates during previous encounters with law enforcement, a police report said. He’s being held in Ventura County Jail without bail due to an immigration hold, Detective Eric Buschow said.

“He’s been deported more than once and has a criminal history in four states,” Buschow said.

The investigation focused on several store video tapes that showed a man targeting elderly women shopping in local stores. In the videos, the thief took about two minutes to commit a crime. He’d walk into a store, grab a free newspaper or magazine from the in-store display and try to locate a shopper with her purse in the child carrier of the cart.

As soon as the shopper turned away from her cart, the thief unzipped her purse, grabbed her wallet, hid it inside his newspaper and departed the store, said Detective Dan Blanck, who led the investigation.