TYLER, Texas–Individuals convicted of card skimming scams here are receiving sentences even longer than those convicted for crimes that led to the collapse of Enron.
“In recent years, East Texas skimmers have received prison terms more commonly associated with violent criminals who commit murder or sexual assault,” reported the Houston Chronicle.
Among them:
- Jorge Rondon-Martinez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his skimming crimes.
- Nelson Fernandez-Lopez received 45 years.
- Duniesky Gonzalez got 50.
“In addition to Nieves-Perez, at least two other men in Smith County — Fabrizio Slatineanu and Yoerlan Suarez-Corrales — have received sentences of life in prison for credit card skimming,” the Chronicle stated. “Local law enforcement have trumpeted the stiff punishments as justice done right — an aggressive response to a problem that needed concentrated attention. Responding to a rash of local incidents, Smith County officials pushed for tough new state laws. A committed local prosecutor used them vigorously. And a new state-funded financial crimes center located in Tyler helped.”
‘Closed for Business’
Adam Colby, who investigated crimes for the Tyler, Texas Police Department, told the Chronicle, “We saw this crime being done all over East Texas.” He added that police and prosecutors “wanted to say, ‘East Texas and Smith County are closed for business for you people.’”
In Tyler, one attorney for one of the men charged with card skimming noted that his client’s bond was $1 million. A murder suspect was being held on $400,000 bond. The attorney’s client, got a 65-year sentence.
What FICO Data Show
Debbie Potts, an analyst for FICO, which monitors debit card activity on ATMs and gas pumps, told the Chronicle her research showed about 1,700 reported skimming incidents nationally involving 231,000 cards last year — a slight dip from 2023 — with Texas accounting for about 4%, ranking it 8th among states.
Smith County officials told the publication they started seeing skimmers around 2016, and after struggling to prosecute suspects, in 2017 police and the district attorney found a decades-old law they could use, using a wire-tapping law to apply it to unlawful interception of electronic communications, which is what card skimmers do.
Victims No Longer Necessary
The county said low-level chares were doing nothing to deter criminals, so in 2019 it got state lawmakers to significantly up the punishment.
In addition, the Chronicle reported that previously officers had to find at least 50 skimming victims to get the stiffest sentences. Now they didn’t have to find victims — only perpetrators — and the sentence could be enhanced if any victim was over the age of 65.
