Four Texas people have been found guilty of making over $30,000 of fraudulent purchases at Boise-area Walmart stores and other businesses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boise.
On Monday, a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts against Alejandro Hidalgo, 27, Dilcia Martinez-Marquez, 26, Enrique Matos-Herrera, 30, and Jose Salazar-Quintana, 29, all from Amarillo, for using stolen debit card numbers to make the fake purchases.
All defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Hidalgo also was convicted of six counts each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Martinez-Marquez also was convicted of four counts of wire fraud.
Matos-Herrera was convicted of four counts each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
And Salazar-Quintana was convicted of seven counts each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The week-long trial before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge established that the defendants, and their co-defendants, Luis Mejias-Fiz, 25, and Eslay Monzon, 43, traveled to Idaho for the purpose of executing their scheme.
Mejias-Fiz and Monzon previously pleaded guilty.
“The group rented hotel rooms and traveled to at least seven Walmart stores and a couple of Walgreens stores in the Treasure Valley on October 15 and 16, 2015,” said U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson. “They obtained stolen debit card numbers from so-called ‘dark web’ Internet sites that traffic in stolen account numbers.”
The defendants targeted Idaho residents by obtaining stolen debit card account numbers from Idaho Independent Bank. Officials said they fraudulently encoded the stolen account numbers onto the magnetic strips of stock gift cards and then used the re-encoded cards to purchase new gift cards and other merchandise.
“On October 16, 2015 -- thanks in part to tips from members of the public -- the Meridian Police Department apprehended the defendants in the vehicle they were sharing,” Olson said. “Through the investigation, law enforcement recovered thousands of dollars worth of gift cards, merchandise, and a computer that the defendants used to execute their scheme.”
Mejias-Fiz’s sentencing is scheduled for January 11, 2017.
Monzon’s sentencing is scheduled for January 19, 2017.
The defendants convicted at trial are set to be sentenced on March 9, 2017.
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory two years in prison, to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed for the underlying felony.
