Twelve people have been charged in a 26-count indictment for their roles in a scheme to install credit card skimmers on gas pumps in at least five states, including Northeast Ohio, and steal credit card information from thousands of people.
The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to install skimmers on point-of-sale terminals inside of gas pumps located in Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, Utah and elsewhere between August 2014 and July 2017.
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The defendants then re-encoded the stolen credit/debit card account information, including the actual account holders’ names, onto counterfeit credit cards, which were used to fraudulently purchase gift cards, merchandise, goods and services.
“These are people who just went to the gas station to fill up and instead of just filling up their gas tank, they end up having their information stolen," Justin Herdman, US attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, told News 5.
The defendants traveled from Florida to install the skimmers and worked together to distract gas station employees and/or obstruct their view while the skimmers were covertly installed.
The skimmers were discovered on gas pumps in Rocky River, Solon, Stow, Hudson, Fairview Park, Medina, Cleveland, Canton, Cuyahoga Falls, Norton and Austintown.
The people named in the indictment are:
- Ranset Rodriguez, 40, of Miami
- Yaniris Alfonso, 31, of Miami
- Jose Manuel Iglesias, 51, of West New York, New Jersey.
- Juan Carlos Banos, 58, of Parma, Ohio
- Carlos Rodriguez Martinez, 42, of Aurora, Colorado
- Lester Enrique Castaneda, 39, of Hialeah, Florida
- Edelberto Hernandez, 46, of Kiowa, Colorado
- Eddy Pimentel-Vila, 45, of Jersey City, New Jersey
- Luis Enrique Jimenez Gonzales, 27, of Hialeah, Florida
- Yonasky Rosa, 34, of Tampa
- Yadian Quesada-Hernandez, 31, of Tampa
- Alejandro Moises, 52, of Miami
Nine of the suspects were arrested Tuesday in either Florida or New Jersey. Agents were still searching for three of the suspects, including the alleged ringleader, Banos, of Parma.
