FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
February 6, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:11-cr-174-AWI

            FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Jorge Palenzuela, 43, of Bakersfield, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to use unauthorized access devices.

            According to the guilty plea, between July 2010 and August 2010, Palenzuela participated with co-defendants Yuri Perez Machado, 39, of Delano, and Jairo Fernandez, 27, of Bakersfield, in a conspiracy to obtain credit card account numbers by fraudulently opening credit card accounts with large, nationally recognized home improvement stores.  In order to obtain the credit card account numbers, Palenzuela and his co-conspirators would falsely represent themselves to the home improvement store employees as agents of a business entity applying for a credit card account, and would accordingly complete a credit card application.  To substantiate their representations if needed, the defendant and his co-conspirators would create false public incorporation documents listing the defendant or other co-conspirators as an officer or authorized agent of the business entity purportedly applying for the credit card account.  Once a credit card account number was obtained from the home improvement stores, the defendant and his co-conspirators used the credit card account number to purchase goods from the home improvement stores.  The defendant and his co-conspirators obtained credit card account numbers not only in the Eastern District of California but elsewhere, including, but not limited to, Kansas, Texas, and Northern and Southern California.  Between July 2010 and August 2010, Palenzuela and his co-conspirators purchased approximately $70,464.06 worth of goods from home improvement stores.

            This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Secret Service, with assistance from the Bakersfield Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorneys Henry Z. Carbajal III and Stanley A. Boone prosecuted the case.

            The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on April 23, 2012.  The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of Conspiracy to Use Unauthorized Access Devices is five years imprisonment.  The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

            On January 9, 2012, co-defendant Jairo Fernandez was sentenced by Judge Ishii to five years in prison, and charges against co-defendant Yuri Perez Machado are pending.  Machado is scheduled for a hearing before Judge Ishii on March 26, 2012.  The charges against him are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. 

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