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Probation for 2 in Aurora counterfeit credit card bust

Two Florida residents who authorities say were caught with more than 700 counterfeit or altered credit cards in Aurora last summer received a year of probation after pleading guilty this week, according to Kane County court records.

Mercedes D. Gregonio-Morffy, 44, of Hialeah Gardens, and Luis Jimenez-Gonzalez, 25, of Opa-Locka, both pleaded guilty to altering a credit card, a felony, in exchange for prosecutors dropping the most severe charge of possession counterfeit debit/credit cards.

Under the plea, each must pay approximately $1,300 in fines and must serve a year of conditional discharge, which is a form of probation, records show.

Both can be resentenced to up to three years in prison if they break probation. The most severe charge that was dismissed carried a maximum five-year prison term.

Kane County sheriff's deputies made a traffic stop June 1, 2015, on Orchard Road near Sullivan Road and learned the driver and passenger had fake Ohio driver's licenses, as well as several fake credit cards and prepaid gift cards. That led to a search of the hotel room where the suspects were staying and authorities seized more than 200 additional false credit cards and gift cards. At that time Yuskel Ruiz-Lorenz, 31, of Homestead, Florida, and Dairon Ferrer-Marquez, 26, of Miami, were also arrested, authorities said.

Deputies made another traffic stop later that day as part of their investigation and found more counterfeit credit cards and gift cards in a vehicle occupied by four people, including Gregonio-Morffy and Jimenez-Gonzalez.

Yaniris Alfonso, 30, and Ranset Rodriguez-Martinez, 38, both of Miami, also were arrested during the traffic stop which resulted in another search warrant and subsequent seizure of more than 500 counterfeit cards at a different hotel room, authorities said.

Ferrer-Marquez is due in court Wednesday and the remaining three defendants are due in court Thursday. Each faces up to five years in prison.

Police: 6 Florida residents found with 700 fake credit, gift cards in Aurora

Luis Jimenez-Gonzalez
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