September 22, 2014

"El Mustachio The Magician" is Captured



“El Mustachio The Magician” has been caught. 

"El Mustachio" has been identified as 
 Shawn Fialho - 45 years old 
with a last known address in Boulder Creek.  
Shawn Fialho was dubbed “El Mustachio The Magician” for his distinctive moustache captured on security surveillance from Costco, and for his ability to make merchandise disappear from store shelves and packaging.  Here are those Costco images:    

Fialho has taken electronics merchandise from the store on a number of occasions and has been captured on their video surveillance.   The last time he entered the store, he had shaved his trademark moustache and looked like this:
but, alas....he had the same boots on!

We posted images from the video asking for the public’s help in identifying him and offering a commemorative El Mustachio glass signed by the Chief, as a reward. 
This fabulous and priceless reward did its job, as shortly after the offer we received a call from a tipster identifying Fialho as “El Mustachio”. 
 
Our tipster asked to remain unidentified.....so now I have a case of El Mustachio glasses sitting on my office. 
He was picked up by the Sheriff’s Office in Soquel last week on an unrelated arrest.  We have attached our cases to his arrest for prosecution.  Fialho has a long history of arrests for theft and drug related cases.  He is a true Probation All Star, as he is currently on Probation 5x over. 

Fialho's history of booking photos match the different looks he sported during his Costco heists:

His latest booking photo shows the moustache is coming back
Congrats Santa Cruz Community…..you have come through again on our “Name That Thief” feature.  This year alone, you have helped us identify a number of suspects from photos posted here on our blog!  Good Job Everyone! 

We’ll keep posting up the photos and I’ll keep springing for equally fabulous rewards (courtesy of Dollar Tree), as we work together to clean up the town!