TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
.that an Elizabeth man has been indicted in a scheme to steal other people’s identities
and engage in credit card fraud.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, Andres A. Correa (also known as Frank
Perec), 29, of Elizabeth, was charged late
Friday (April 9) with second-degree trafficking
in personal identifying information of another,
second-degree identity theft, second-degree
conspiracy, and second-degree tampering
with witnesses and informants. Correa was
also charged with third-degree attempted
theft by deception, third-degree credit
card fraud, and five counts of third-degree
theft by deception.
The
Union County grand jury indictment alleges
that between July 1 and Oct. 1, 2008, Correa provided electronic skimming devices to an employee of a Delta gas station
located in Roselle Park. The skimming devices
were used to obtain and store electronically
encoded information that had been captured
from the magnetic strip of payment cards
belonging to customers of the Delta gas
station, without the knowledge of the customers.
Correa allegedly paid the gas station employee
for each payment card account number that
had been collected and stored within the
skimmer device.
The
indictment further alleges that Correa knowingly
distributed or possessed eleven fraudulent
credit cards. Each of the cards was allegedly
“re-encoded,” which means that
they were digitally altered so that the
account information embedded in the magnetic
strip on the back did not match the account
embossed on the face of the cards. As a
result, the altered credit card could be
used by the person whose name was on the
front of the card, while the charges were
billed to an unsuspecting victim. An investigation
by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
determined that the victims in the alleged
scheme were customers of the Delta gas station
whose personal identifying information had
been captured in the skimming devices.
It
is also alleged that Correa knowingly impersonated
another individual, using that person’s
identity and the re-encoded credit cards
to defraud several businesses in northern
New Jersey, including Home Depot, Toys R’
Us and Linden Liquors, of a total of more
than $15,000.
Finally,
the indictment alleges that on November
27, 2008, Correa threatened a potential
witness in the investigation in order to
cause the potential witness to withhold
information or testimony regarding the investigation.
Two
other persons previously pleaded guilty
and were sentenced in the ongoing investigation.
Luis F. Marte, 37, whose last known address
was in Union Township, pleaded guilty in
April 2009 to trafficking in personal identifying
information of another and identity theft.
He was sentenced to 333 days in county jail
as a condition of a five-year term of probation.
Marte’s
nephew, Carlos DeJesus, 21, whose last known
address was in Elizabeth, pleaded guilty
in April 2009 to trafficking in personal
identifying information of another. DeJesus
was sentenced to 364 days in county jail
as a condition of a five-year term of probation.
Detective
Jarek Pyrzanowski, Analyst Christina Runkle,
and Deputy Attorney General John J. Higgins
were assigned to the investigation. Deputy
Attorney General Higgins presented the cases
to the Union County grand jury. Acting Fraud
Prosecutor Dagli thanked the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey Police Department,
the Roselle Park Police Department and the
Linden Police Department for their assistance.
The
indictment is merely an accusation and the
defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty. Second-degree crimes carry a maximum
sentence of 10 years in state prison and
a criminal fine of $150,000, while third-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of five
years in state prison and a criminal fine
of $15,000.
Acting
Fraud Prosecutor Dagli noted that some important
cases have started with anonymous tips.
People who are concerned about insurance
cheating and have information about a fraud
can report it anonymously by calling the
toll-free hotline 1-877-55-FRAUD
or visiting the Web site www.njinsurancefraud.org.
State regulations permit an award to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
The
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor was
established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998. The office is
the centralized state agency that investigates
and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance
fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud.
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