In a pun-filled post, the Irvine Police Department sought to steal everyone’s attention Monday with their announcement of two shoplifting suspects from Santa Clarita, whom they arrested on more than $450,000 in outstanding warrants in two counties.
“If you commit a crime in Irvine, expect a blemish on your criminal record that will be difficult to conceal,” the post started, which states the suspects were arrested on suspicion they stole about $1,700 in merchandise from a popular cosmetics retailer.
The theft investigation started at the Sephora inside the Irvine Spectrum Center on Saturday afternoon, according to the Irvine Police Department post, which indicated the store’s loss-prevention officers alerted IPD to the alleged thefts.
“On Saturday afternoon, our Spectrum officers were alerted by Sephora Loss Prevention that a duo was concealing (pun intended) cosmetics and had left the store,” the post stated. “Officers detained them before they could blend in with traffic and reach their car.”
Going on to state there was a “strong foundation” for the case, the value of the merchandise was estimated based on the recovery from property on the suspect’s person and in their vehicle, according to the IPD post.
“They also uncovered additional stolen Sephora merchandise from a previous theft,” according to the post, which had one more final pun for good measure: “The evidence was impossible to brush aside.”
Kely Yuly Villavicencio, 45, and Ibrahim Gonzalez Silva, 23, of Santa Clarita, were arrested on suspicion of organized retail theft and conspiracy. The two were tied to additional warrants in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, according to the post.
Custody records from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department indicate that, as of Wednesday afternoon, Gonzalez Silva remained in custody. Villavicencio was released Monday.
Gonzalez Silva and Villavicencio were previously arrested Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, respectively, by L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputies. Gonzalez Silva was arrested by deputies with the Lost Hills Station; Villavicencio was arrested in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Gonzalez Silva “was arrested in November 2025 on burglary charges,” according to an email Tuesday from Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, adding, “one of the reported residential burglaries occurred on Oct. 18, 2025, in Valencia. Villavicencio, Kely Yuly was arrested on Nov. 6, 2025, in connection with a vehicle burglary at Central Park in the Bouquet Canyon area,” she wrote, citing Sheriff’s Department records.
