Indictments for major organized skimming group
Twelve suspects in police custody
Boulder County, Colo. - On October 12, 2017, after a 16-month investigation, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation – Cleveland Office, United States Secret Service – Cleveland Office, obtained 12 indictments on a major organized skimming group that operated throughout the central United States.
Other Colorado agencies involved in this investigation include the Aurora Police Department, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Elbert County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Parker Police Department.
The group was primarily composed of Cuban nationals out of the Miami area that would fly to Cleveland, Chicago, Denver, and other areas where they would place multiple skimmers in fuel pumps. They would then use the data to produce cloned credit cards which were subsequently used to make fraudulent purchases against the victim’s credit and bank accounts. Through the course of the investigation over 8,000 victims were identified, with over 2,300 from Colorado alone. It is estimated that this group was responsible for approximately 2.5 million dollars in theft per week.
In addition to the skimmers, individuals in this group were also linked to a multi-million dollar international money laundering ring, in which several other indictments were obtained by the United States Secret Service.
As of this release nine of the 12 suspects are in police custody. Due to the large number of arrested and wanted individuals, members of the media may email: sheriffpio@bouldercounty.org to request a document with the mugshots.
The arrested individuals are:
- Ranset Rodriguez-Martinez
- Yaniris Alfonso
- Jose Iglesia Edelberto Hernandez
- Luis Enrique Jimenez-Gonzalez
- Yadian Hernandez
- Lester Castaneda De La Torre
- Eddy Pimentel-Vila
- Yonasky Rosa
The suspects still at-large are:
- Juan Carlos Banos
- Alejandro Moises
- Carlos Rodriguez-Martinez
Carlos Rodriguez-Martinez has ties to the Aurora, Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada areas. If you have any information as to the whereabouts of any of these suspects please contact:
Detective Chris Fiegel
Boulder County Sheriff’s Office
303-441-4763
Special Agent Paul Cruz
FBI – Cleveland Office
216-622-6733
pcruz@fbi.gov
Special Agent Todd Porinsky
USSS – Cleveland Office
216-750-2058
The main associated case number for the Boulder County Sheriff's Office is: 16-6157. Previous press releases can be found here and here.
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/s/ Detective Chris Fiegel
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