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Men Sentenced for Gas Pump Card Skimming
In a shocking case of financial crime, two men have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a gas pump card skimming scheme in North Carolina.
The scheme, which was uncovered in September 2017, involved the use of devices that could be installed on gas pumps to steal credit and debit card information from unsuspecting victims. The stolen information was then used to make unauthorized purchases at various Walmart stores across the state.
According to authorities, the two men, ELIO ARTURO RODRIGUEZ-MENDEZ, 47, of Miami, Florida, and JEAN JESUS RODRIGUEZ-SILVA, 33, of Louisville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty on May 10, 2018 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Each man was sentenced by United States District Judge William L. Osteen, Jr. to 33 months of imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release. They were also ordered to pay $21,931.09 in restitution.
The investigation into the scheme began after a fraud victim came forward with a complaint. By tracing the use of the stolen card information, authorities were able to identify the two men on store security footage at various Walmart stores. The surveillance also showed the two men consistently arriving and leaving the stores in a silver pick-up truck with Florida license plates.
On September 7, 2017, an officer saw a pick-up truck matching that description and followed it to a hotel in Salisbury. The officer recognized one of the persons in the vehicle as a person seen on surveillance video associated with the credit/debit card fraud. Officers stopped the pick-up truck after it left the hotel and found the pair to be in possession of devices commonly found in card-skimming activity.
The devices were found to have been used to steal credit and debit card information from gas pumps at stations in Rockwell and Salisbury. A GPS unit in RODRIGUEZ-MENDEZ’S truck showed it had once stopped at the station in Rockwell while the station was closed, and an audio-recording recovered from the GPS unit captured persons apparently discussing, in Spanish, the proper way to install a gas pump card-skimming device.
The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Anand P. Ramaswamy, Cybercrime Prosecutor for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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