RIVERBANK, California — A trip to Costco ended with a 91-year-old man missing the ring from his own finger, and it has now ended with four people under arrest. Riverbank Police Services deputies — the city is policed under contract by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office — say a woman approached the elderly shopper in the parking lot of the Costco on Claribel Road on Monday, November 9, offered to help him load his groceries, and offered to pray for him. During that interaction, deputies say, she removed the ring from his finger without his knowledge or consent.
Source: Riverbank Police Services / Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office
The man later described the moment to a deputy on body-worn camera, in footage the Sheriff's Office released in a public video on Saturday, November 14. According to that account, the woman removed the ring under the pretense of putting it in his pocket, and left a cheap necklace in its place while making a prayer-like gesture — a detail investigators say fits a practiced distraction routine rather than a spur-of-the-moment theft.
Source: The Union Star, reporting the Sheriff's Office video
Deputies say the woman then walked away, got into a black Mazda and fled the area. She had not been working a single target: through follow-up investigation, detectives identified the vehicle and found it had been observed attempting to interact with multiple shoppers throughout the parking lot. Aerial surveillance released by the Sheriff's Office shows a woman in a red patterned top approaching shopper after shopper in the lot, where police had already received reports of scammers operating.
From the parking lot to a Modesto driveway
Detectives located the vehicle parked in the driveway of a residence in the City of Modesto, the county's largest city, a short drive from Riverbank. Investigators obtained and served a search warrant at the residence, where several individuals were detained. During the operation, one woman attempted to evade deputies by jumping over fences, but was quickly apprehended, the Sheriff's Office said.
A search of the residence turned up suspected counterfeit jewelry and various clothing items — the kind of props investigators associate with swap-and-distract thefts, in which a worthless item is left behind so the victim does not immediately realise anything is missing. The ring stolen from the 91-year-old victim, however, was not recovered.
The charges
Four individuals were arrested. Three were arrested on all of the following charges, deputies said: grand theft from a person (Penal Code 487(c)), theft or financial abuse of an elderly or dependent adult (368(d)), conspiracy to commit a crime (182(a)(1)), and resisting, delaying or obstructing a peace officer (148(a)(1)). The fourth person, a woman, was arrested for the 148(a)(1) violation alone. The Sheriff's Office has not released the names of the four, and every charge is an allegation: all four are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Investigators later learned that three of the individuals had previously been arrested in Sacramento County on October 31, 2026 — nine days before the Riverbank incident — for similar offenses. Despite those arrests, the Sheriff's Office said, the individuals had been released by the courts. That sequence is likely to draw attention as the Stanislaus County case moves forward, because it raises the question of whether the Riverbank theft could have been prevented while the earlier case was pending.
Riverbank Police Services reminds community members, particularly older adults and their loved ones, to remain cautious when approached by strangers offering unsolicited assistance, prayers or other services. These interactions, deputies say, can sometimes be used as opportunities to distract victims and steal personal property. Anyone who believes they may have been targeted in a similar incident is encouraged to contact their local law enforcement agency.
Why this matters in the Central Valley
Riverbank sits in Stanislaus County, in the heart of California's Central Valley — a region with a large Punjabi and South Asian population, where grandparents routinely shop at the same warehouse stores in Modesto, Turlock and Riverbank, often helped in parking lots by well-meaning strangers. Distraction thefts aimed at elderly shoppers are a known pattern in the Valley: the offer of help, a blessing or a prayer creates a brief moment of close physical contact, and jewellery — a ring, a chain, a bracelet — is gone before the victim reaches their car. Deputies say the counterfeit jewellery found in Modesto is exactly the sort of substitute item used to delay discovery.
California law treats theft from an elder or dependent adult as its own offense, under Penal Code 368(d), separate from the underlying grand-theft charge — which is why the three main suspects face both counts for a single ring. The conspiracy count, 182(a)(1), reflects the Sheriff's Office position that this was a coordinated group working the parking lot together, not one person acting alone.
What happens next
The four now face the Stanislaus County court process, where formal charging decisions and first court appearances will follow. Deputies have not said whether they believe there are further victims, but their public appeal — asking anyone who thinks they were targeted in a similar incident to come forward — suggests investigators want to hear from other shoppers approached in that lot or elsewhere in the county. The victim's ring remains missing. For families, the Sheriff's message is practical: if a stranger in a parking lot insists on helping, praying over you or holding your hand, keep your hands — and your jewellery — in sight.