A Kern County man has been sentenced to prison for masterminding a long-running credit card fraud scheme that caused over $825,000 in losses.
Miguel Leyva, 36, of Wasco, was sentenced to five years and five months in prison and ordered to pay $693,614 in restitution for conspiring to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court records, Leyva and his partner, Karina Arceo, stole the personally identifiable information (PII) for more than 125 victims between February 2016 and August 2022. Much of the PII was stolen from patient files at health care providers in Kern County where Arceo worked.
Leyva and Arceo used the stolen PII to open thousands of fraudulent credit cards in the victims’ identities. They used false identification documents to open the credit cards and provided billing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses so that any communications related to the credit cards would go to them instead of the victims.
They then made hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent purchases on the credit cards in Kern County and elsewhere. The fraudulent purchases included home appliances, automobile accessories, designer clothing, tickets to concerts and sporting events, and travel, among other items.
Often times, Leyva and Arceo resold the items that they fraudulently purchased for cash and reaped a windfall because they did not actually pay for the items. They also used checks that had been stolen from companies in Kern County to access the companies’ bank accounts and make fraudulent payments towards the credit cards so as to keep their scheme going.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Charges are pending against Arceo, who is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Related Federal Cases
- Amy Evangelista, Tax Fraud, California 2023 · California
- Nazaret Chakrian, ID Theft and Wire Fraud, California 2023 · Idaho
- Federal Regulators, Lifel, Securities Fraud, California 2020 · Connecticut
- McKenzie Marie Earley, $10M Wire Fraud, C.D. California, 2023 · Louisiana
- Christopher Guilford, Tax Refund Scheme, California 2025 · Alaska
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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