Identity theft and card-skimming scheme in Sacramento gets Venezuelan man prison time

A Venezuelan man was sentenced in Sacramento for his involvement in an identity theft scheme, while his co-defendant awaits sentencing.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, Luis Jose Ruiz Gainza was sentenced to 4½ years Thursday following his conviction for a four-month scheme in 2017 in which he and his co-conspirators placed skimming devices and cameras in ATMs to record users’ personal identification numbers. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says hundreds of bank customers used the ATMs while the skimmers were in place.

According to the release, Gainza, 45, and his co-defendant Ricardo Gabriele-Plage, 39, also of Venezuela, used the stolen information to create fraudulent credit and debit cards to make unauthorized purchases.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Gainza and Gabriele-Plage were arrested in a hotel room in Rancho Cordova, where law enforcement discovered a magnetic stripe reader and encoder, skimmers, covert cameras and tools used to repair skimmers and install the devices into ATMs.

Gabriele-Plage pleaded guilty to offenses tied to the identity theft scheme and his sentencing is set for Jan. 9, 2020, according to the release. He faces a maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $250,000 for conspiracy to possess unauthorized access devices; 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for access device fraud; and a mandatory consecutive term of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft charges.

The case was investigated by U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the case was prosecuted by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 2:42 PM.