BOSTON — A Florida man prosecutors say was involved in a scheme to attach “skimming” devices to pumps at gas stations in Maine and other New England states to steal the debit and credit account numbers from thousands of unsuspecting drivers has been arrested.
Luis Angel Naranjo Rodriguez, 29, of Hialeah, Florida, was charged Monday with possessing 15 or more counterfeit access devices, and possession of device-making equipment, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said in a statement.
Naranjo Rodriguez was arrested in Concord, Massachusetts last November after police spotted him at a closed gas station next to an unlocked gas pump with keys in the lock, prosecutors said.
Officers searched Naranjo Rodriguez, a nearby vehicle and his hotel room and found multiple skimming devices and additional pump keys, authorities said.
A review of the devices resulted in the discovery of more than 5,600 account numbers that appeared to have been stolen, prosecutors said.
The devices were installed at gas stations in Lynnfield, Concord, Malden, Taunton, Randolph and Raynham, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Nashua, New Hampshire; and Willington, Connecticut, authorities said.
Naranjo Rodriguez was held pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday.
He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
His federal public defender said via email that she had no comment on the case.
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