Tampa, FL - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the unsealing of a 31-count indictment charging Tampa residents Yannier Arias (29) and Jose Ojeda Vera (25) with conspiracy to commit credit card fraud and identity theft. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison for each conspiracy charge and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for each credit card fraud charge, to be followed by two years in federal prison for the identity theft charges. They were indicted on Aug. 27, 2015.
According to the indictment, Arias and Vera obtained and used counterfeit and unauthorized credit cards that had been encoded with stolen credit card account information. In many cases, the stolen information had been obtained by “skimming" victims’ credit cards at local gas stations. The fraudulent credit cards were embossed and encoded with names and account numbers belonging to individuals who were often unaware that they had been victimized. Many learned that their information had been stolen when they were notified by law enforcement. Arias and Vera allegedly used these stolen identities and credit cards to purchase merchandise from local stores.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has violated one or more federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Financial Crimes Task Force, which includes the United States Secret Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelley C. Howard-Allen.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
