3 more guilty pleas in bogus credit card ring in Aurora
Three more Florida residents caught with what authorities described as 700 fake debit and gift cards in Aurora last summer have pleaded guilty, were fined $1,300 and issued a year of probation.
The guilty pleas entered last week by Yaniris Alfonso, 30, and her husband Ranset Rodriguez-Martinez, 38, both of Miami, and Yuskel Ruiz-Lorenz, 31, of Homestead, in late March mean five of the six Florida residents arrested in June 2015 have admitted guilt.
Alfonso, Rodriguez-Martinez and Ruiz-Lorenz each pleaded guilty to the reduced felony charge of altering a credit card, according to Kane County court records. If they violate probation, they can be resentenced to up to three years in prison.
The initial charges of possession of counterfeit debit/credit cards had a punishment ranging from probation to five years in prison.
Mercedes D. Gregorio-Morffy, 44, of Hialeah Gardens, and Luis Jimenez-Gonzalez, 25, of Opa-locka pleaded guilty in mid-March to altering a credit card, were fined $1,300 and issued a year of conditional discharge, according to court records.
Dairon Ferrer-Marquez, 26, of Miami, was the sixth person arrested and has a May 19 court date.
According to authorities. Kane County sheriff's deputies pulled over a sport utility vehicle near Orchard and Sullivan roads June 4, 2015, and discovered the driver and passenger had phony Ohio driver's licenses, as well as several fake prepaid debit and gift cards.
The stop led to a search of an area hotel room, and there authorities found 200 fake credit and gift cards.
Deputies made another traffic stop later that day as part of their investigation and searched another hotel room, where 500 more cards were discovered.