NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Investigating one fraud case in North Miami Beach resulted in the arrest of a couple in Biscayne Gardens, who local police accused of financial crimes and federal agents of immigration law violations, records showed.
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A man reported that his debit card data had been used without his authorization to make five withdrawals from a Citibank ATM on May 22 at CVS at 1825 NE 185 St. in North Miami Beach, according to police.
Surveillance video at the CVS showed “a heavy-set white male suspect, wearing a blue shirt, black jeans, and gray shoes,” who used eight cards at the ATM and left in a “silver vehicle,” according to a North Miami Beach police officer’s arrest report.
NMB detectives identified the man — behaving as if he was “engaged in organized fraudulent financial crimes involving counterfeit or re-encoded debit and credit cards” — as Norvys Colmenares, records show.
Colmenares, 46, had a silver Hyundai Elantra and was living with Janckeily Guerra, and a minor in an apartment, at 175 NW 160 St., that NMB detectives searched on Tuesday, records show.
Detectives found Colmenares and Guerra, 29, had “accessories commonly utilized in sophisticated credit card fraud and identity theft operations,” according to a police officer’s arrest reports.
On top of their kitchen counter, there was a card-skimming device with an integrated pinhole camera used on ATMs or register terminals to steal account numbers and pins, according to police.
In a toolbox, there were components and tools, including tap-to-pay sensors and electronic programming boards, used in the “manufacture, installation, and operation of card-skimming equipment,” according to police.
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Detectives also reported finding “a silver magnetic stripe card encoder/re-encoder,” 143 credit, gift, and prepaid cards, including 132 that had been re-encoded; a glass jar with marijuana, and a loaded Glock 42.
“Guerra also had two altered credit cards inside her wallet,” a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report.
Homeland Security Investigations agents responded and reported that Colmenares and Guerra, who were both born in Venezuela, “had entered” the U.S. unlawfully and were “prohibited from possessing or exercising control over a firearm.”
NMB police officers arrested Colmenares and Guerra on Tuesday morning at the apartment. Miami-Dade corrections booked them on Tuesday night at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where they remained on Wednesday afternoon.
Colmenares faced six charges: Grand theft, fraudulent use or possession of personal identification, possession of a skimming device, attempted unlawful use of a scanning or reencoder device, credit card forgery, and possession of marijuana.
Guerra faced four charges: Possession of a skimming device, credit card forgery, marijuana possession, and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Colmenares and Guerra both had holds by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Local 10 News Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.
