RadioShack clerk guilty of credit-card fraud

PROVIDENCE — A former Cranston RadioShack store clerk has been convicted in federal court of conspiracy and credit-card fraud after he helped use information taken from Rhode Island Hospital patients’ files to assist a former hospital security guard with opening cell phone accounts in patients’ names.

Former clerk Roberto Valerio, 26, of Providence, was found guilty Thursday after a jury deliberated about four hours, U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente’s office said yesterday in a news release.

The former security guard, Michael Bermudez, obtained accounts from identity information he took from emergency room files. Bermudez testified at trial that he stole identity information of four to five people a day over many months.

Prosecutor Adi Goldstein presented evidence at trial that, in 2007, Valerio helped in opening accounts in names that Bermudez brought into the Garfield Street store, information often written down on paper slips, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Evidence linked Valerio to more than 10 fraudulent cell phone and “Answer +” credit-card accounts.

Victims whose identities had been used first learned the accounts existed when collection agencies contacted them about account balances owed.

As a RadioShack employee, Valerio received performance bonuses of $15 to $60 for opening new accounts — but it was unknown to RadioShack at the time that Valerio was using illegal means to open accounts.

The jury found Valerio guilty of conspiracy to commit credit-card fraud, six counts of trafficking in counterfeit access devices and four counts of aggravated identity theft. The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for trafficking in counterfeit access devices is 10 years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Aggravated identity theft carries a two-year prison term, consecutive to any other sentence imposed.

Valerio is free on bond pending a scheduled March 3 sentencing hearing.

Bermudez typically wore his security guard uniform when he went to the store and told store employees he had gotten the identity information from hospital patients’ records.

Bermudez “customarily bought multiple cell phones under a single account,” according to the news release, then sold phones for $100 to $150, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Bermudez and the two RadioShack clerks who have pleaded guilty, Hector Alvarez and James Hernandez, are also free on bond pending sentencing.

— projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Man charged in Red Sox ticket scam

JAMESTOWN — The police have accused a Jamestown man of scamming a woman out of more than $6,000 by pretending he was a Boston Red Sox talent agent with access to baseball tickets.

Charles Pruenca was freed after a court hearing Wednesday. He is charged with a single count of obtaining money under false pretenses.

State Police Lt. Col. Steven O’Donnell alleges that the scam started in July when the 38-year-old man offered to get a woman tickets for regular season and playoff games. She paid nearly $6,400.

When the tickets never arrived, Pruenca told the woman he was being treated for cancer.

The police said Pruenca does not work for the team and has not sought cancer treatment.

It was unclear whether Pruenca had a lawyer. No one answered the phone at an address listed under Pruenca’s name.

— Associated Press

Teen ARrested after waving handgun

PROVIDENCE — The police arrested a 16-year-old youth yesterday after he was seen waving a handgun in front of 29 Cliff St. When the police arrived, they found a handgun hidden inside a cinder block.

When questioned by Patrolman John Reposa, the youth said that he found the gun on Cliff Street a year ago and said, “This junkie keeps bothering me and has threatened me with his needles. I was scared, so I pulled out the gun for my safety.”

The teen was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a minor and carrying a pistol without a license. The police also confiscated a .22-caliber revolver and six live rounds.

— Linda Borg

Three charged in credit-card fraud

Three Brooklyn, N.Y., residents were arrested this week in Rhode Island on credit-card fraud charges, the Rhode Island State Police announced yesterday.

Kevin Mohamad Alomari, 21, of 515 E. 80th St., Kevin Baynes, 21, of 1229 E. 48th St., and Sarah C. Theagene, 19, of 1012 E. 86th St., Apt. 1, were arrested Wednesday and charged with fraudulent use of a credit card, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretenses over $500.

Baynes had been arrested a day earlier by the Cumberland police and charged with fraudulent use of a credit card at the Stop & Shop on Mendon Road in Cumberland. Alomari and Theagene fled, according to the police.

Baynes was arraigned on that charge and released.

On Wednesday, the three were stopped for speeding on Route 95 south by Trooper Matthew McGuire of the state police Hope Valley barracks.

Trooper McGuire found the vehicle was unregistered and that the three were suspects in the Stop & Shop incident in Cumberland, according to the state police.

The state police said they found several debit and gift cards in the car.

The police said they found later that the encoding on the magnetic strips of the cards had been altered to include stolen credit-card account information. The alteration allowed the user of the fraudulent card to make purchases under the account holder’s name, according to the state police.

With help from the Stop & Shop Loss Prevention, the state police tied all three to similar incidents in Lincoln and nearby communities in Massachusetts.

The three were arraigned Friday in District Court, Providence.

Alomari and Baynes were held for violating the terms of their probation. They are due in court on Nov. 20.

Bail was set at $10,000, with surety, for Theagene.

— Staff report