Thursday, October 19, 2017
Staff report
A federal grand jury in Cleveland indicted 12 people on 26 counts for their roles in conspiracy to install credit-card skimmers at gas pumps in several communities across at least four states, including Austintown.
The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, accuses the defendants of conspiring to install skimmers on gas pumps located in Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, Utah and elsewhere between August 2014 and July this year. The defendants are: Ranset Rodriguez, 40, of Miami; Yaniris Alfonso, 31, of Miami; Jose Manuel Iglesias, 51, of West New York, N.J.; Juan Carlos Banos, 58, of Parma, Ohio; Carlos Rodriguez Martinez, 42, of Aurora, Colo.; Lester Enrique Castaneda, 39, of Hialeah, Fla.; Edelberto Hernandez, 46, of Kiowa, Colo.; Eddy Pimentel-Vila, 45, of Jersey City, N.J.; Luis Enrique Jimenez Gonzales, 27, of Hialeah, Fla.; Yonasky Rosa, 34, of Tampa, Fla.; Yadian Quesada-Hernandez, 31, of Tampa and Alejandro Moises, 52, of Miami.
All 12 suspects are in custody.
Members of the group traveled from Florida and installed credit-card skimmers on gas pumps while others distracted attendants, including in July at the Pilot Gas Station on North Canfield-Niles Road in Austintown, according to the indictment.
“This group stole credit-card information from thousands of people all over Northeast Ohio just looking to fill up their gas tanks and continue on their way,” U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman said in a news release. “Instead, these victims had their personal information taken and used to make fraudulent credit cards, which this group in turn used to steal merchandise.”
The indictment follows an investigation by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service and the Boulder County Sheriff’s office in Colorado.