San Clemente woman arrested in alleged scam to collect money, goods for firefighters in Holy fire

A San Clemente woman with a history of outlandish scams, including a string of fake pregnancies, was arrested Tuesday amid allegations she concocted a nonexistent firefighter husband to collect at least $2,000 in donated goods she claimed would help firefighters during the Holy fire in August.

Ashley Bemis, 28, was taken into custody at her home and booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion felony grand theft, second-degree burglary, witness intimidation and making false financial statements, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

She remained in custody Tuesday afternoon on $50,000 bail.

Bemis is accused of collecting cash and hundreds of items — such as food and blankets — in the scheme that unraveled after victims began complaining on Facebook, according to Sheriff’s Department Lt. Mike Peters.

Case ‘kept growing’

“It’s a strange case,” he said Tuesday. “It’s one of those cases that kept growing as investigators turned over rocks. It was very complicated because of the intricacies of her fraudulent behavior.”

Although investigators initially estimated Bemis had scammed about $11,000 in goods, that figure was scaled down to $2,000 based on the number of victims who came forward to identify donated items.

Investigators were alerted Aug. 17 that Bemis had posted on her Facebook page and another belonging to a group named San Clemente Life that she was married to a Cal Fire firefighter named Shane Goodman and was gathering donations because her husband and his crew were not getting the supplies they needed, according to a search warrant affidavit.

“Shane works for Cal Fire and is out on the Holy Fire right now,” she wrote in a Facebook post that has since been deleted. “I also have two other family members and many friends out on this fire and other fires burning here in California. I received a text today from Shane saying it’s pretty much a living hell out there battling the unpredictable ‘Holy Hell Fire.’“

Bemis also posted a lengthy list of items she claimed Cal Fire fighters needed, including air mattresses, socks, T-shirts, underwear, bottled water, baby wipes, and provided the addresses of four drop-off locations in San Clemente.

Facebook ploys surface

As the donations began to pile up, several people alerted authorities, accusing Bemis of having a long history of reselling donated items for profits, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Detectives scoured a national database to determine that no firefighter exists by the name of Shane Goodman, either employed by Cal Fire or any other fire department in the United States, Peters said.

Although Bemis delivered a few of the donated items to the Holy fire command post in Irvine apparently to make the alleged scam appear legitimate, investigators found hundreds of additional items in a garage at her residence and in a “secret stash” at a second garage, Peters said.

Detectives also interviewed several individuals who claimed they had fallen victim to Bemis’ past deceptions, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Admits baby shower was a fraud

Quinn Bork of San Clemente told investigators he and his wife, Starla, helped organize a baby shower for Bemis in 2012. A few months later, the couple learned Bemis had faked the pregnancy to receive free gifts that could be sold, according to the affidavit.

“Ashley admitted to doing it and apologized,” the search warrant said.

Starla Bork, one of those allegedly fleeced by Bemis, spent several hundred dollars on the baby shower. “It was money she really couldn’t afford, but she wanted to help Ashley,” the search warrant said.

Lorie Christman told investigators that around the time of the baby’s due date, she received a text from Ashley saying she was Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, but had lost the child because it was “stillborn.”

Bemis later admitted to Christman that she had faked the pregnancy to get gifts and attention, the affidavit states.

Several people who know Bemis have told the Southern California News Group that Bemis wore a “baby bump” to make it appear she was pregnant.

Appeared on ‘The Dr. Phil Show’

In November, Bemis appeared on the “The Dr. Phil Show,” where she was confronted by several of her alleged victims.

Another victim, Emily Strickland, told detectives she hired Bemis as a nanny for her son. In 2012, Strickland was shocked to find photos of her son dressed as a girl on Bemis’ Facebook page, and a post from Bemis claiming the picture was that of her own daughter, Cheyanne, according to the affidavit.

Strickland said Wednesday she is pleased that Bemis has been arrested.

“It is about time,” she said. “I am happy she is where she belongs so that she can’t victimize others and victims can get the justice they deserve.”