Card skimmers flew cross-country to scam Tri-City stores

Two Miami men admitted traveling nearly 2,500 miles for a scheme to put cash in their pockets by reselling dozens of prepaid gift cards.

Yordano Bonachea and Gilner E. Garcia landed in Spokane last October and drove to the Tri-Cities to put the card-skimming plan into action.

Using counterfeit credit cards made with account numbers stolen from gas station customers, they set about buying as many gift cards as possible in one week before returning to Florida, said court documents.

But the plan hit a snag when a Medical Lake woman noticed her debit card was being used at Target in Kennewick. The woman had the bank-issued card in her possession and had not been to the Tri-Cities.

Kennewick police were able to track down the suspects through store surveillance video, and quickly realized the scam warranted contacting the U.S. Secret Service.

Bonachea and Garcia were accused of making the card transactions, but a third suspect allegedly came to Eastern Washington first to place the skimming devices on gas pumps.

A “skimmer” collects and stores several gigabytes of credit card data from the magnetic strips when customers slide their cards to pay.

Carlos M. Fleitas downloaded the data and sold the account numbers to Bonachea, while also manufacturing his own counterfeit credit cards, court documents said.

Fleitas — another Miami resident who is described as being “socially acquainted” with Bonachea and Garcia — paid for the duo’s flights to Washington state with a legitimate credit card.

Once Bonachea and Garcia were back home in Florida, Fleitas was to buy the gift cards from them at a reduced rate of 50- to 82-percent of their value, documents said.

Instead, the three men ended up charged with several felony counts in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington.

On Thursday , Bonachea and Garcia pleaded guilty in separate hearings before Judge Sal Mendoza Jr. at the Spokane federal courthouse.

Bonachea admitted one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. He faces up to five years in prison at his Oct. 21 sentencing.

Garcia is looking at a maximum of three years in prison for knowing of the conspiracy and deliberately concealed it from authorities. Sentencing is Oct. 25.

Fleitas is set for trial Nov. 21 on one count each of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and possession of device making equipment. A conviction on the possession can bring up to 15 years in prison.

When Kennewick police became aware of the card scheme, they reviewed surveillance footage from Target and saw Garcia and Bonachea both using multiple credit cards at the cash register until a transaction was approved.

They primarily bought prepaid gift cards, but picked up other small items to make the transactions look less suspicious, court documents said.

The suspects were spotted leaving in a black Kia Soul, and police searching the city and eventually found it parked outside the Fairfield Inn.

A desk clerk looked at pictures of the suspects from Target and confirmed they were staying in one of the hotel rooms, documents said.

After getting a search warrant, officers found large stacks of gift cards wrapped in plastic and hidden behind the room’s refrigerator, court documents said. The cards were worth more than $35,000.

They also seized 35 credit cards in Garcia’s name and 27 for Bonachea, along with ledgers with store names, dollar amounts and four-digit credit card codes.

The credit cards were re-encoded with the legitimate account numbers.

Investigators started received other reports that cards were being used at stores in Eastern Washington even though the owner still had the actual card.

Bonachea’s plea agreement says there were more than 40 victims.

Bonachea and Garcia initially denied knowing anything about the fake credit cards or other evidence, and claimed they had traveled to Washington to smoke marijuana because it is legal in the state.

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 8:26 PM with the headline "Card skimmers flew cross-country to scam Tri-City stores."