Ormond police charge 4 men in statewide identity theft ring

Ormond police charge 4 men in statewide identity theft ring

ORMOND BEACH — Four Miami men who police said are a traveling fraud ring who claimed to be in cahoots with the Russian mob in South Florida were arrested in the parking lot of a lawnmower business, investigators said.

The suspects, natives of Cuba who cannot speak English but whose language barrier did not prevent them from attempting to fill out a credit application with bogus information Tuesday at the Mower Depot on Wilmette Avenue, were in possession of roughly $20,000 in merchandise they purchased with fake credit cards, said Officer Keith Walker, Ormond Beach police spokesman.

One of the suspects told investigators that they had purchased credit information in Miami.

“They said they bought credit reports with identities from the Russian mob,” Walker said Wednesday as police displayed items obtained by fraud. “They then used that information to obtain fake credit cards and fake driver’s licenses.”

The four then went on a shopping spree all over Central Florida, police said, stopping in Orlando, Apopka, Sanford, Port Orange, Daytona Beach and finally Ormond Beach.

Walker said the men were supposed to stay in the area for only three days, but then decided to stay a fourth and that’s when they were nabbed.

“They got greedy,” Walker said.

The merchandise bought by the four men — Angel Rodriguez, 37, Jorge Tejeda, 50, Alexis Zaldivar, 41 and Rolando Diaz-Coca, 41 — included refrigerators, washing machines, power tools, computers, cigarettes and sneakers.

Police found the cache of goods at a motel room at the Baymont Inn and Suites off Interstate 95, Walker said.

Mower Depot owner Scott Edwards called police after Tejeda entered his shop at 290 Wilmette and asked for a credit application, police said. Prior to the suspects’ arrival at the Mower Depot, an employee of South Daytona Tractor and Mower Inc. called Edwards and warned him the group could be headed his way. The South Daytona business employee told Edwards that one of the men wanted to apply for a credit card, but that the identification he produced seemed fake, police said.

When the South Daytona employee called the credit card company, a customer service worker there told him the identification used by one of the suspects had been flagged as part of “a large group who scammed several businesses statewide,” an Ormond Beach arrest report shows.

After Tejeda went outside to fill out the credit application at Mower Depot, Edwards called police, the report states. When investigators arrived at the shop, Zaldivar, in a silver Toyota, tried to take off, police said. He was blocked in by several police cars. The other three suspects were in a Ford F-150. When police walked over to them, Tejeda and Rodriguez had several identification cards on them, the report states. Tejeda also had a bank bag filled with more identification cards, police said. Diaz-Coca, meanwhile, was throwing some of the identification cards in his possession down a storm drain in the parking lot, police said.

Although Zaldivar told the investigators he would cooperate, he also claimed that he did not know the three other men, the report states. Zaldivar told police he was just heading to the beach.

At that point, Tejeda said he too would cooperate and said they were all from Miami and were part of an “organized scheme to defraud,” the report states. Tejeda said the scam included applying for store credit with false identifications and then receiving credit cards from various stores. The merchandise would be resold to a fencing operation in South Florida, Walker said.

Aside from bogus credit cards, the group also had several fake driver’s licenses with the same suspect’s picture on it, Walker said. Rodriguez’s mug, for example, was on four different Florida driver’s licenses.

“They said they know someone at the DMV that helped them out,” Walker said, referring to the state’s Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. “We will be following up with them (the state).”

The four men were in court for their first appearance on Wednesday afternoon. Each was charged with eight counts of obtaining property by fraud, using a two-way communication device and possession of another’s property with serial number.

The suspects were being held Wednesday at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $20,000 bail each.

Mower Depot owner Scott Edwards called police after Tejeda entered his shop at 290 Wilmette and asked for a credit application, police said. Prior to the suspects’ arrival at the Mower Depot, an employee of South Daytona Tractor and Mower Inc. called Edwards and warned him the group could be headed his way. The South Daytona business employee told Edwards that one of the men wanted to apply for a credit card, but that the identification he produced seemed fake, police said.

When the South Daytona employee called the credit card company, a customer service worker there told him the identification used by one of the suspects had been flagged as part of “a large group who scammed several businesses statewide,” an Ormond Beach arrest report shows.

After Tejeda went outside to fill out the credit application at Mower Depot, Edwards called police, the report states. When investigators arrived at the shop, Zaldivar, in a silver Toyota, tried to take off, police said. He was blocked in by several police cars. The other three suspects were in a Ford F-150. When police walked over to them, Tejeda and Rodriguez had several identification cards on them, the report states. Tejeda also had a bank bag filled with more identification cards, police said. Diaz-Coca, meanwhile, was throwing some of the identification cards in his possession down a storm drain in the parking lot, police said.

Although Zaldivar told the investigators he would cooperate, he also claimed that he did not know the three other men, the report states. Zaldivar told police he was just heading to the beach.

At that point, Tejeda said he too would cooperate and said they were all from Miami and were part of an “organized scheme to defraud,” the report states. Tejeda said the scam included applying for store credit with false identifications and then receiving credit cards from various stores. The merchandise would be resold to a fencing operation in South Florida, Walker said.

Aside from bogus credit cards, the group also had several fake driver’s licenses with the same suspect’s picture on it, Walker said. Rodriguez’s mug, for example, was on four different Florida driver’s licenses.

“They said they know someone at the DMV that helped them out,” Walker said, referring to the state’s Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. “We will be following up with them (the state).”

The four men were in court for their first appearance on Wednesday afternoon. Each was charged with eight counts of obtaining property by fraud, using a two-way communication device and possession of another’s property with serial number.

The suspects were being held Wednesday at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $20,000 bail each.

Mower Depot owner Scott Edwards called police after Tejeda entered his shop at 290 Wilmette and asked for a credit application, police said. Prior to the suspects’ arrival at the Mower Depot, an employee of South Daytona Tractor and Mower Inc. called Edwards and warned him the group could be headed his way. The South Daytona business employee told Edwards that one of the men wanted to apply for a credit card, but that the identification he produced seemed fake, police said.

When the South Daytona employee called the credit card company, a customer service worker there told him the identification used by one of the suspects had been flagged as part of “a large group who scammed several businesses statewide,” an Ormond Beach arrest report shows.

After Tejeda went outside to fill out the credit application at Mower Depot, Edwards called police, the report states. When investigators arrived at the shop, Zaldivar, in a silver Toyota, tried to take off, police said. He was blocked in by several police cars. The other three suspects were in a Ford F-150. When police walked over to them, Tejeda and Rodriguez had several identification cards on them, the report states. Tejeda also had a bank bag filled with more identification cards, police said. Diaz-Coca, meanwhile, was throwing some of the identification cards in his possession down a storm drain in the parking lot, police said.

Although Zaldivar told the investigators he would cooperate, he also claimed that he did not know the three other men, the report states. Zaldivar told police he was just heading to the beach.

At that point, Tejeda said he too would cooperate and said they were all from Miami and were part of an “organized scheme to defraud,” the report states. Tejeda said the scam included applying for store credit with false identifications and then receiving credit cards from various stores. The merchandise would be resold to a fencing operation in South Florida, Walker said.

Aside from bogus credit cards, the group also had several fake driver’s licenses with the same suspect’s picture on it, Walker said. Rodriguez’s mug, for example, was on four different Florida driver’s licenses.

“They said they know someone at the DMV that helped them out,” Walker said, referring to the state’s Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. “We will be following up with them (the state).”

The four men were in court for their first appearance on Wednesday afternoon. Each was charged with eight counts of obtaining property by fraud, using a two-way communication device and possession of another’s property with serial number.

The suspects were being held Wednesday at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $20,000 bail each.

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