MADISON, WIS. - Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Pedro Lorenzo-Concepcion, 37, Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and possession of 15 or more counterfeit access devices. Immediately following the guilty plea, Chief U.S. District Judge James Peterson sentenced Lorenzo-Concepcion to 46 months in prison.
On Sept. 12, 2016, Lorenzo-Concepcion, Jorge Consuegra-Rojas, and another individual attempted to use a counterfeit credit card inside of a grocery store in Mauston, Wisconsin. The group’s vehicle was stopped by law enforcement shortly after leaving the store. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed false identification documents, counterfeit credit cards, multiple cellular telephones, two computers, three flash drives, six credit card skimmers, a credit card reader/writer, and 280 gift cards valued at over $23,000.
A forensic search of the flash drives and computers revealed a total of 1,679 stolen credit card numbers, some of which had been used to purchase the recovered gift cards. The investigation also revealed that Lorenzo-Concepcion used fraudulent credit cards to conduct dozens of purchases at Sam’s Club stores throughout Minnesota between September 9 and Sept. 12, 2016, for a total of $8,072.38 in fraudulent charges.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Peterson recognized that Lorenzo-Concepcion was an active participant in a large-scale multi-state credit card fraud scheme and noted that Lorenzo-Concepcion continued to engage in credit card fraud in other states after the incident in Mauston. Judge Peterson also expressed concern that Lorenzo-Concepcion had served three years for a felony drug trafficking offense shortly before the credit card fraud activity in Wisconsin.
On Aug. 21, 2018, Consuegra-Rojas was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for his role in this scheme.
The charges against Lorenzo-Concepcion and Consuegra-Rojas were a result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Juneau County Sheriff’s Office, and the Mauston Police Department. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
