New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Division of Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that a man from HudsonCounty, N.J. has pleaded guilty to an identity theft scam.
According to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi, Remny Gomez, 24, of West New York, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft of identity before Superior Court Judge Robert J. Mega in Superior Court.
The charge was contained in a UnionCountygrand jury indictment returned on Aug. 27, 2010.
Judge Mega scheduled sentencing for Jan. 12, 2012. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Gomez be sentenced to three years in state prison. He will also be ordered to pay $4,126 in restitution.
In pleading guilty, Gomez admitted that between Feb. 16 and March 13, 2008, he fraudulently used other people’s personal identifying information to commit insurance fraud and to make credit card purchases without their authorization.
The investigation began after Gomez was arrested on Feb. 17, 2008 by the West New York Police Department while allegedly driving a stolen, “re-tagged” 2003 BMW 745. West New York Police Department’s investigation determined that Gomez was in possession of fraudulently obtained insurance identification. The West New York Police Department referred the matter to the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor for further investigation.
While that investigation was pending, Gomez was arrested on March 13, 2008 while attempting to use a $100 gift card to purchase an $850 computer in a Walmart in Secaucus. A vigilant check‑out clerk reportedly noticed that the account numbers on the check‑out slip did not match the numbers on the gift card. Further investigation revealed that Gomez possessed a number of credit cards that had been “re‑encoded,” meaning that the credit cards had been digitally altered.
Gomez is said to have fraudulently possessed a New Jersey driver’s license of another person, a Commerce Bank Visa Debit card and an All Access Gift credit card, a Bank of America Visa card and a re‑encoded Carver Federal Savings Bank credit card, two PNC
Visa Check Cards, a re‑encoded U.S. Bank National Association credit card, a re‑encoded
Commerce Bank Credit card, without the owners’ authorization and a Best Buy Reward Zone MasterCard and a Citibank credit card that had been re‑encoded.
An investigation determined that Gomez allegedly used the fraudulent credit and debit cards to make at least $4,126 worth of purchases.
Detective Jarek Pyrzanowski and former Deputy Attorney General John J. Higgins were assigned to the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Dennis Kwasnik represented the state at the guilty plea hearing.
Topics New York Fraud New Jersey
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