Fraudulent checks crafted to draw funds from businesses as far north as Manteca may have originated in the home of a suspected burglar in South Merced, the Merced County Sheriff's Department said Monday.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Lourdes Diaz, 37, in her Childs Avenue home Thursday. There, officers found about 15 swiped book bags, several stolen checkbooks, forged checks and at least two dozen cases of apparently stolen CDs, said Sheriff's Deputy Rick Shukri, who arrested Diaz on a warrant with two other officers from the Sheriff's Tactical and Reconnaissance team.

Sheriff's Detective John Mussotto said Diaz also was creating checks and applying for credit cards in the name of businesses in Manteca, Merced and Modesto.

"I've been trying to track down who's who," Mussotto said. "We've just been coming up a little bit at time."

Diaz remained in custody Monday. The Merced County jail said she is now serving six months for petty theft with prior convictions.

The detective said Diaz likely obtained information about the companies by stealing mail from a Modesto post office. The Manteca company collected its mail in Modesto.

Mussotto said Diaz probably was not acting alone. He suspected that one of her cohorts worked for Merced's Werner Co., a manufacturing firm that was victimized by the false checks.

Mussotto said he could not estimate the damage done by the false checks. He said it wasn't clear how long the operation had been operating.

He said the department still needs to obtain a search warrant to go through Diaz's computer. That machine likely contains information on how the fake check scheme worked.

Mussotto said the computer, a Dell desktop, was also a stolen item. It belonged to a student, he said.

The detective said items in Diaz's house were linked to at least five burglaries. Shukri said the stolen CD books likely came from vehicle burglaries.