A woman police say scratched dozens of luxury cars across the Bay Area, including Pleasanton, appeared in a Santa Clara County courtroom today after being arrested last weekend at a San Jose mall.

Police say Nancy Chi Ni, a 30-year-old San Jose resident, is being linked to more than 15 luxury-car vandalism cases in Pleasanton's northern area, said Sgt. Jim Knox of the Pleasanton Police Department.

Ni also is facing one count of vandalism in Alameda County, according to district attorney spokeswoman Teresa Drenick.

On Aug. 26, Ni was arrested on the 5800 block of Stoneridge Mall Road after a citizen saw her scratching a luxury car, Knox said.  Police searched the parking lot and found other vehicles that had been similarly vandalized.  Knox said the charges from the vandalism arrest in Pleasanton would be separate from the charges Ni faces in Santa Clara County.

On Sept. 25, San Jose police arrested Ni at Westfield Valley Fair Mall on charges of vandalizing several cars in the parking lot.  A mall security officer notified police at about 6:50 p.m. on Sept. 25 after witnessing Ni scratch one vehicle, said officer Jose Garcia, a San Jose Police Department spokesman. 

An officer who was at the mall responded to the call and placed Ni under arrest based on the security officer's statement.  Police found two more cars in the lot with "damage consistent with the way the first vehicle was vandalized," said Garcia.

Ni faced two counts of vandalism for the Sept. 25 incident at her arraignment Wednesday at the Santa Clara Hall of Justice.  She also is charged with an enhancement, which would add two years to a sentence. She is facing seven enhancements for committing the crimes while out on bail. 

At her next court date, Oct. 7 at 9:30 a.m., the district attorney will file a motion to consolidate her cases.

Ni has been linked to other cases throughout Santa Clara County, and was arrested by Milpitas police on June 8,  Sept. 13 and Sept. 22 on suspicion of vandalizing luxury cars.

She is in custody at the women's facility at Elmwood Correctional Complex on $2.05 million bail, according to court records.

Ni had run-ins with police in prostitution-related cases in 2005 and 2009, according to court records.  In July 2005, she was arrested at a hotel on a prostitution charge after meeting an undercover officer through Craigslist advertisements.

Police also reported arresting Ni in December 2009, when she solicited sex from an undercover officer at the Windham Hotel in San Jose.  Ni had advertised on Craigslist under a description of "Asian Outcall Massage," according to records, and pleaded no contest to the prostitution charge.

Court records show three more convictions prior to 2005, two for prostitution and one unspecified.

Adelaide Chen contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this story was corrected to reflect the following: the number of charges Nancy Chi Ni faces for the Sept. 25 San Jose arrest, the number of enhancements she's facing and the dates of her Milpitas arrests.

This version also correctly states that the Santa Clara district attorney intends to file a motion to consolidate Ni's cases on Oct. 7.