A San Francisco police officer has been arrested on suspicion of defrauding several people out of up to of Elvis Presley memorabilia, including rare CDs, (autographed) photographs and books. In his Hercules home, 37-year-old John Solis had an ``Elvis room'' devoted to The King. ''But traditional collecting apparently was not enough for Solis", authorities say. Over 800 items were seized from his home after more than four months of investigation. Among the items seized Monday were 650 compact discs, 160 videos, 38 books, wallets and an Elvis eyeglass case.
Hercules police say Solis ordered hundreds of Elvis compact discs, videos, books, watches and other collectible items, and in many cases claimed he never received them so he could get his money back from the shippers. Between June 1997 and July 1999, Solis is believed to have charged thousands of dollars in merchandise under his own and four other names. He now faces four counts of grand theft and four felony counts of forgery according to the Hercules police.
The arrest stems from a series of transactions that Solis allegedly made over the Internet, via mail and by telephone and were shipped to him according to the senders. Police believe that Solis defrauded an Arkansas man out of 90 rare Elvis videos worth $2,700; took a 17-year-old in Memphis for 27 compact discs worth more than $500; and scammed a Texas woman for $3,700 worth of books, CDs and other items. It’s estimated Solis may have obtained at least $32,000 in collectibles through fraudulent means.