Three Florida men have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a gas pump credit card skimming operation.
Roilan Garriga, 20, Wilbur Perez-Soca, 24, and Asleys Acosta, 28, each pleaded guilty to five counts each of felony identity theft in Hennepin County District Court, according to the Minnesota Department of Commerce. They will be sentenced on January 8, 2018.
Garriga and Perez-Soca are expected to receive between 41 and 57 months in prison. Acosta, who has credit card fraud convictions from Florida, agreed to a sentence in the range of 60 to 90 months.
During their court hearings, the men admitted they traveled from Florida to Minnesota for the sole purpose of stealing credit card information by installing skimmers on pumps at several gas stations. Using forged credit cards with the stolen information, they went on shopping sprees in the Twin Cities, including stores at the Mall of America, nightclubs and restaurants.
Police arrested the men in Minneapolis on Nov. 12, 2016. Officers found equipment used to install and monitor credit card skimmers in the men’s van, along with more than 20 debit or prepaid credit cards encoded with personal information from a Minnesota resident.