NORTHAMPTON, Va. — Tuesday morning, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said six Cuban nationals would face jail time for stealing credit card information in Northampton County.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, the attorney, said they were convicted of putting "skimming devices" on gas pumps in Northampton in 2018. These machines would collect the credit and debit card numbers, and PINs, of customers who used those pumps.
Then, court documents said the defendants would withdraw money from those people's bank accounts, or use their credit card information to buy pre-paid gift cards.
"The crew was attributed with aggregate losses of over $5,000,000 over several years," Terwilliger wrote.
When the FBI and US Marshals Service arrested the defendants, they seized a number of vehicles bought with those compromised credit cards, including a 2006 Triton 2895CC boat and trailer, a 2017 Ford F250 Super Cab truck, a 2016 Cruise Radiance Travel Trailer RV, a 2017 Ford Escape SUV, a 2017 Maserati Ghibli and a 2013 Porsche Panamera.
Here are the people charged in the scheme, and their sentences:
- Yasmani Granja Quijada (33): 120 months
- Luis Miguel Fernandez Cardente (29): 64 months
- Jorge Bello Fuentes (31): 60 months
- Guillermo Bello Fuentes (34): 47 months
- Pedro Emilio Duran (40): 30 months
- Yariel Monsibaez Ruiz (29): 19 months
All of the conspirators were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Quijada, Cardente, Jorge Fuentes and Guillermo Fuentes are also charged with aggravated ID theft.
There are believed to be several other conspirators involved in the scheme who have not been arrested. Terwilliger said they might be living in Mexico.
