U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that LUIS RIVERA GARCIA, age 27, a Cuban national residing in Florida, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown sentenced RIVERA GARCIA to 57 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and $7,873.90 in restitution.
RIVERA GARCIA pled guilty to conspiring with co-defendants to possess fifteen or more unauthorized and counterfeit access devices, as well as producing, possessing, and trafficking device-making equipment. According to court records, the defendants traveled from Florida in late July 2015, and agreed to place card skimming devices on gas pumps in the New Orleans area. They also admitted to, among other things, possessing a card encoding machine, a card embossing machine, and a laptop computer containing stolen credit card information. In April 2016, while on bond in this case, RIVERA GARCIA and co-defendants, JULIET ESTRADA PEREZ and JESUS ENRIQUE GONZALES TORRES, were arrested in the Southern District of Florida on new state charges of committing credit card fraud, after they were found in the Florida Strait between Florida and Cuba by the United States Coast Guard, and have been detained since then as flight risks.
RIVERA GARCIA is the third defendant to be sentenced in this case. In January 2017, PEREZ and TORRES were sentenced to 36 months and 30 months imprisonment respectively. As part of sentencing, U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown found that RIVERA GARCIA was an organizer and leader of the conspiracy. She further ordered the RIVERA GARCIA pay restitution of $7,873.90 jointly and severally with his codefendants and a $100 special assessment.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the United States Secret Service, and Homeland Security Investigations in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hayden Brockett was in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
