"CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Two Cuban men, who traveled across 16 Iowa countries in 2017 and used 54 stolen identities and card numbers to make fraudulent purchases, were each sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison. A third co-conspirator is awaiting sentencing.
According to plea agreements and other information presented in court, Alvarez Rodriguez and Santana Moreno drove across the state of Iowa with a third person, Liliany de Armas Mena, using counterfeit credit cards containing at least 54 "skimmed" account numbers of victims. They used these fake cards to purchase gift cards and gift card reloads at Wal-Mart stores. Their scheme was designed to evade detection by keeping individual transactions under $100, moving across county borders to stay ahead of authorities, and using account numbers "skimmed" within the state of Iowa.
In sentencing Alvarez Rodriguez and Santana Moreno, Chief Judge Strand commented that the defendants were:"
"Parasites motivated by greed,
who made their living
off theft and stealing others'
hard-earned money."
- Chief Judge Strand
~ Found at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
