On Friday, Acting U.S. Attorney Richard W. Murphy announced that 30-year-old Jose Castillo Febles of Doral and 52-year-old Juan Carlos Febles of Miami pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. Court records explain that the defendants and others utilized stolen credit and debit cards to purchase merchandise from November 2015 to June 2016.
In May 2016, the defendants and others took a trip to Maine. During the trip, Jose Castillo Febles bought more than $500 worth of merchandise from a Portland Walgreens using a stolen card number belonging to a victim in Auburn. In mid-June of 2016, a co-conspirator, Yaisder Herrera Gargallo, bought merchandise from another Portland Walgreens using a stolen card number. This led to store personnel notifying the authorities. They also provided the detectives with a license plate number.
The following day on June 16, 2016, Juan Carlos Febles purchased more than $700 worth of merchandise from a Home Depot in Augusta. This time, he used a stolen card number belonging to a Vassalboro victim. On June 18, 2016, a deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office stopped a vehicle carrying the defendants and Herrera Gargallo. The defendants were arrested and authorities subsequently discovered merchandise, fraudulent credit cards, and a laptop. It was later discovered that the laptop contained credit card numbers and other related data.
Both defendants face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the conspiracy charge. On the aggravated identity theft charged, the men face a mandatory sentence of two years in prison. The men are expected to be sentenced after the presentence investigation reports are completed by the U.S. Probation Office. Yasider Herrera Gargallo pleaded guilty to the same charges in June of this year. He is currently awaiting sentencing.