Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced the Indictment of three Cuban nationals, charging them all with conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and two defendants with access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
YUSNIEL HERNANDEZ PEREZ, age 32; YADIER ALUIJAS FERNANDEZ, age 30; and HENRY DAVID MARTINEZ, age 21, Cuban nationals who resided in the State of Texas, were charged yesterday with conspiracy to commit access device fraud. PEREZ and FERNANDEZ are both charged with access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
According to the Indictment, the three defendants traveled to Jefferson Parish in the same car on July 24, 2017. They are all alleged to have used counterfeit cards to make purchases at a local merchant. On that same day, FERNANDEZ is alleged to have hidden approximately 45 counterfeit access devices in a sock hidden on his person. For his part, defendant PEREZ is alleged to have hidden approximately twelve cards in his shoe.
Acting U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that the Indictment is merely an allegation and that the guilty of the defendant must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
If convicted of the charge of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, PEREZ, FERNANDEZ and MARTINEZ face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison. If convicted of the charges of access device fraud, PEREZ and FERNANDEZ face a statutory maximum of ten years in prison. If convicted of the charges of aggravated identity theft, PEREZ and FERNANDEZ face a consecutive mandatory term of two years in prison. Each defendant also faces substantial monetary penalties, supervised release, and restitution upon conviction.
Acting U.S. Attorney Evans commended Special Agents of the United States Secret Service and Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Deputies, who investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hayden Brockett is in charge of the prosecution.
--DOJ Eastern District of Louisiana