Newport Beach filmmaker ‘snapt’ after thieves stole his identity, exposes ID theft ring targeting surfers

Logan Dulien had been taking care of his mom for about a year and a half by the time she died of Parkinson’s disease last summer. It was a complicated arrangement for him, partly because her struggle with alcohol and substance abuse throughout his childhood had strained their relationship. They had previously been estranged for 20 years and she was living in a care facility when he received disturbing news.

“I got a call from Hoag Hospital saying that my mom had just been rescued by elderly protective services and the Santa Ana Police Department for elder abuse,” he told the Daily Pilot Thursday. “[The operators of the facility] had basically cut off all her hair. She had a broken hip, broken shoulder. They apparently washed her in bleach. It looked like she had just been liberated from Auschwitz.”

Bearing witness to his mom’s gradual decline after they reunited weighed on Dulien. He was in the hospital with her when she died, and was caught in a spiral of emotions in the days that followed.

He needed to clear his head before he started planning her final arrangements. So he decided to surf for just 20 minutes at Santa Ana River Jetties before going to a mortuary on Aug. 12.

“That’s my temple,” Dulien, creator of the surfing film series Snapt, said. “That’s my religion. That’s everything for me. That’s my sanity.”

But when he got back from his saltwater therapy session, he discovered that someone had taken his keys from his beachside apartment and used them to steal his wallet and phone from his car. When Dulien used a relative’s phone to text the one that was stolen, the person who replied offered to return his property in exchange for $1,000 cash.

Dulien agreed and enlisted several friends from the surfing community to watch his back at a meeting point chosen by the thief, but the person with his phone never showed up. Sensing he might have lost more than he first thought, he went to a bank to check his accounts and discovered they had been tapped to purchase around $150,000 in watches and other luxury merchandise.

Dulien felt as if he had been toyed with for hours when he was supposed to have been arranging to lay his mother to rest. For just a moment, defeat washed over him. Then anger and an unrelenting desire to find those who had wronged him followed.

“Maybe they robbed the wrong person at the wrong time,” Dulien said. “Because, hey, I’ve got the surveillance. I have the resources. And I’m pissed off.”

The filmmaker shared multiple security camera stills of the person who took his keys from his apartment and shared his story with thousands of followers on social media. Almost immediately, dozens of others began reaching out to say they had been victimized in practically identical crimes.

Connections in his circle shared additional footage of thieves using Dulien’s cards to make purchases. Later, a Costa Mesa Police detective told Dulien the person caught on surveillance was named Daniel Castillo. He had previously been arrested for similar thefts, and was allegedly part of an organized crime ring targeting surfers up and down the coast, according to a federal indictment.

“It makes sense, they know they’re going into the ocean and a lot of them hide their keys,” Dulien said. “They’re gone for at least 20 minutes to three hours. So at that point it became more personal. Because surfing, look, everyone doesn’t get along. but we are still a tribe. If you see someone drowning, whether you’re on good terms or not, you’re gonna save them.”

Castillo was reportedly taking orders from the theft ring’s alleged mastermind, who was able to bypass facial recognition software in order to break into victims’ phones and access their banking accounts. That person was identified in court documents as Moundir Kamil, a Moroccan national who had previously been convicted of bank robbery and served time in prison in California.

Dulien handed over every lead and piece of evidence he found to Newport Beach police officer Kyle Bean, and over several months they built a rock solid case. In the meantime, break-ins remained rampant near River Jetties.

“I remember there were eight in one week,” Dulien said.

A huge break in the case happened last month, shortly after a neighbor installed surveillance cameras on their property. Those showed thieves breaking into vehicles, handing off stolen goods and, crucially, the license plate of one of their vehicles.

That ultimately led to the arrest and additional allegations filed against Castillo, Kamil and a third defendant accused of using stolen cards to make purchases, Jennifer Pruneda. Investigators estimate the three allegedly took over $900,000 from their victims, according to court documents. All three suspects are currently awaiting trial in federal court.

Dulien said he feels proud knowing his tenacity may have helped bring crooks preying on his tribe to justice, but doesn’t consider himself a hero. He described himself as a person who looks forward to confronting problems on his own terms.

His took on his personal investigation into the identity theft ring while simultaneously working on the fifth installment of his surfing film series and arranging his mother’s cremation. Dulien said he thrives in “chaos,” and having tackling multiple challenges at once allowed him to productively channel his energy during a tumultuous point in his life.

“The more I get written off, the more I feed off of that energy,” Dulien said.