Trio Sentenced To Federal Prison For Credit Card Fraud

Orlando, Florida – U.S. Chief District Judge Anne C. Conway yesterday sentenced Ruben Mangual-Aquino (33, Orlando) to 48 months in federal prison for conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit access devices (credit cards), possession of device-making equipment, producing and using counterfeit access devices, possession of 15 or more counterfeit access devices, and aggravated identity theft. Co-defendant Yahima Carballosa (33, Orlando) was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for the same offenses. A third co-defendant, Bernard Cordero-Perez (27, Kissimmee), was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for participating in the conspiracy and for possession of device-making equipment.  The Court also ordered the defendants to forfeit computer equipment and cell phones that had been used to commit the offenses. In addition, they were ordered to pay $44,629.23 in restitution to the victims of the crimes.

Mangual-Aquino and Carballosa pleaded guilty on October 29, 2014, and Cordero-Perez pleaded guilty on October 15, 2014.

According to court documents, Cordero-Perez worked as a housekeeper at a hotel in Orlando, Florida. Mangual-Aquino gave Cordero a hand-held skimming device to steal hotel guests’ credit card account information. On several separate occasions while at work, Cordero-Perez took guests’ credit cards from purses, wallets and backpacks that he found in their rooms, and then ran those cards through the skimmer. After skimming the guests’ credit card account information, he gave the skimmer to Mangual-Aquino, who downloaded the credit card account information into a computer at his home. Mangual-Aquino and Carbalossa then encoded credit cards with the stolen credit card account information to create counterfeit cards. Mangual-Aquino and Carbalossa used the counterfeit cards to buy gift cards at local area retail stores, and then used the gift cards to purchase merchandise. Mangual-Aquino gave Cordero-Perez fraudulently purchased gift cards as his payment for his participation in the conspiracy.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bruce S. Ambrose.