At about 2:45am Wednesday, Turlock Police Officer Aziz put himself on a warrant arrest at the Aspiranet Turlock Family Resource Center in the 2100 block of Geer Road.

Aziz had been driving around looking for Tessa Cahill, 40, of Turlock, after having been out with her the prior night and her identifying as her cousin.

After investigating, it had been determined Cahill had been using her cousin’s name for several years, since at a minimum at least 2021, in an attempt to avoid being arrested on a $4,000 misdemeanor bench warrant out of Modesto for two counts of theft.

On March 30, 2024, a $20,000 local felony warrant of arrest had been issued for Cahill accusing her of false personation, after the cousin she was impersonating had reported Cahill was using her name.

More recently, Cahill had identified herself as her cousin when arrested and released on a citation. An information and belief declaration had been completed for that incident accusing Cahill of false personation.

When confronted, Cahill initially denied anything, stated she was her cousin once more, and became passively resistive with officers.

Despite this, Aziz allowed Cahill a few minutes to say goodbye to her boyfriend and three dogs, one of which had bit a different officer about a month prior.

Even after being allowed to say goodbye, Cahill showed her disappreciation to Aziz and told him this was all his fault. She also cussed out a Turlock City News representative who was on scene.

Cahill was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of falsely identifying to a peace officer, false personation, and her warrants.