Have you seen her? She is wanted for multiple felony crimes in Merced

On April 27, 2019, the Merced Police Department began to investigate multiple cases where victims had money fraudulently taken from them.

Victims reported that they had responded to
radio ads where an unknown Hispanic female was offering healing and counseling.

The victims reported meeting this female at various locations in Merced.

During the healing or counseling sessions, the unknown female would tell the victims that she
had the ability to bless money and jewelry.

Multiple victims left money and jewelry with the unknown female only to never see her again.

Victims reported that the female stated she
would bless the money overnight and return it to them in double. In total, victims in Merced
lost over $80,000.00 in cash and $30,000.00 in jewelry.

Merced Police Detective Jeremy Salyers worked for several months in attempt to identify the
female, however, he was unsuccessful.

Recently, Detective Salyers learned of a similar case in northern California. Using this information, Detective Salyers was able to identify the suspect in the Merced thefts as Perlita Afanacio Ballester.

Ballester’s whereabouts are currently unknown
and she is wanted on multiple felony related charges for her crimes in Merced.

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this crime or the suspect’s location to contact Detective Jeremy Salyers at (209)388-7771 or the Merced Police
Department Tipster Line at (209)385-4725.

The public can send information via anonymous text messages to police department by dialing “TIP411” (847411) and including the word “Comvip” as the “keyword” in the text message.