Florida men ordered to stand trial on forgery, fraud charges
Two Florida men arrested last month by South Strabane Township police after they allegedly were found with a large quantity of fraudulently obtained credit and gift cards were ordered to stand trial Tuesday.
Robelys Rodriguez, 41, and Juan Carlos Romero, 48, both of Miami, were ordered held for court by District Judge Jay Weller on charges of access device fraud, forgery and conspiracy.
The men, both Cuban nationals, were taken into custody outside Sam’s Club at Trinity Point on July 27.
Police were called for a report of a theft in progress at the store. They were told by a 911 dispatcher that a loss-prevention officer said a man who previously used a stolen credit card was checking out. Police received a description of the man, who left the store and was pushing a shopping cart to the end of the parking lot.
The man, later identified as Rodriguez, was spotted by police walking to the rear of a car with Rhode Island license plates. The driver, identified as Romero, spotted the approaching police car and sped off.
The car was stopped in the center of the parking lot. Police said inside Romero’s wallet, the center console and the glove box of the car were a large number of credit cards and $200 MasterCard debit/credit cards. The cards appeared to be issued by Chase and Bank of America in the names of Romero and Rodriguez. Police also found a Sam’s Club card issued in the name of David Moran, along with receipts from the store indicating four $200 gift cards were purchased.
Inside Rodriguez’ wallet, police said they found two Sam’s Club cards in two other names in addition to credit cards that appeared to have been issued by five different credit card companies. Also in his wallet, police said they found 16 $200 MasterCard debit/credit cards.
Romero was released from Washington County jail later that day after posting $100,000 bond. Rodriguez was released from jail Tuesday after Weller reduced his bond to $50,000. Both men are scheduled to be formally arraigned Oct. 13.