NY Woman Federally Indicted For Credit Card Fraud In Central Pennsylvania Stores

HARRISBURG -  The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a New York state woman was indicted late yesterday by a federal grand jury in Harrisburg for allegedly using fraudulently obtained credit cards in June 2014 to make thousands of dollars of purchases from stores in Cumberland County and Luzerne County.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Zeni Ortiz-Reyes, age 31, of Middletown, New York was charged in an indictment with making purchases with an unauthorized access device card. Ortiz-Reyes allegedly made purchases at the Best Buy store and in Mechanicsburg and at a Lowes store in West Hazelton in June 2014. Ortiz-Reyes purchased gift cards and merchandise using credit cards she applied for in someone else’s name without that person’s knowledge or permission. The gift cards and merchandise amount to approximately $18,000.

The investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service, the Hampden Township and Silver Spring Township Police Departments, and the security personnel for the retail stores.  The case has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney William A. Behe.

Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law for each count is 15 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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