11-30-04 -- Pina, Cesar et. al. -- Sentencing -- News Release

Clifton Brothers Sentenced to Prison for Theft of Restaurant Patrons' Credit Card Numbers

NEWARK - Two Clifton brothers involved in a credit card fraud conspiracy were sentenced to prison for recruiting employees of Bergen County restaurants to steal credit card numbers of unsuspecting patrons, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Harold A. Ackerman sentenced Cesar Pina, 26, to 16 months in prison and his brother, Luis Pina, to 12 months in prison. In addition, Judge Ackerman ordered each of the brothers to pay restitution of $71,000.

The Pina brothers were arrested in August 2002, the day a search warrant was executed on their home, said Robert Kirsch, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted this case. In June 2003, the brothers pleaded guilty to criminal Informations which charged each with conspiracy to commit credit card fraud. From January through July 2002, the brothers defrauded approximately 45 victims, and caused approximately $75,000 worth of fraudulent purchases.

According to court documents, the Pina brothers recruited others who worked at two Bergen County restaurants as food servers to secretly swipe customers' credit card numbers through hand-held devices, which the brothers gave to them. As restaurant patrons' credit cards were swiped, these devices recorded the credit card numbers. The food servers then returned the devices to the Pina brothers, and Cesar Pina then downloaded the recorded stolen credit card information onto a computer. He later used the stolen credit card information to create counterfeit credit cards, which were then sold or used to make unlawful purchases.

At their plea hearings, Cesar and Luis admitted that they recruited a waiter and a waitress who worked at Houlihan's Restaurant in Hasbrouck Heights, and that Luis recruited an unnamed relative, who was a waiter at a Red Lobster Restaurant, in Wayne to participate in the conspiracy by giving them and showing them how to use the devices in order to steal the restaurant customers' credit card information.

Christopher Czwazka, 26, of Saddle Brook, and Jodi O'Hara, also 26, of Hasbrouck Heights, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit credit card and admitted that the Pina brothers paid them in cash and cocaine in exchange for stealing the credit card information while employed as food servers at Houlihan's, Kirsch said.

In September, Judge Ackerman sentenced Czwazka and O'Hara, both of whom cooperated with law enforcement, to five years of probation, requiring each to serve eight months of house arrest. Both also were ordered to pay restitution of approximately $65,000.

Christie credited Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service in Morristown, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jan H. Gilhooly for developing the case against the Pinas and other defendants.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Kirsch, of the U.S. Attorney's Office, in Newark.

-end-

Defense Counsel:

Cesar Pina: Adolph Galluccio, Esq.

Luis Pina: Robert Galluccio, Esq.

Jodi O'Hara: Jack Venturi, Esq.

Christopher Czwazka: Paul Brickfield, Esq.