Man accused of using fraudulent credit cards to stock up on fireworks in Hialeah ahead of Fourth of July

HIALEAH, Fla. — A 20-year-old man was arrested Monday after he used fraudulent credit cards to spend thousands of dollars on fireworks at a Hialeah business ahead of the Fourth of July, authorities said.

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According to an arrest report from the Hialeah Police Department, the fraudulent purchases were reported to authorities Monday by the owner of Samurai Fireworks, located at 2122 W. 62^nd St.

Police said the owner told police that on June 2, the suspect, identified as Santiago Alejandro Prieto-Mendoza, of Miami, picked up multiple orders of fireworks that were later revealed to have been purchased with fraudulent credit cards.

The owner said the business was notified about the fraud by their payment processor after Prieto-Mendoza had already picked up the fireworks, worth a total of $2,277.60.

According to the report, Prieto-Mendoza returned to the business Monday after placing three new orders, which the payment processor also flagged as fraudulent.

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Police said a store employee recognized Prieto-Mendoza as the person who picked up the previous packages on June 2 and immediately notified his supervisors that Prieto-Mendoza was trying to retrieve additional merchandise from the store.

Police were then called and Prieto-Mendoza was taken into custody on a charge of organized scheme to defraud.

According to the report, he made some kind of admission to detectives after his arrest, however his exact statement was redacted from the publicly released report.

As of Tuesday morning, Prieto-Mendoza was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.

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