BANGOR, Maine — One of two Florida men arrested in January on state credit card fraud charges made his first court appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court on federal charges.
Ariel Perez-Calvo, 28, of Hialeah is charged with one count each of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was not asked to enter pleas because he has not yet been indicted by a federal grand jury.
Perez-Calvo and Roberto David Lueje-Rodriguez, 29, of Hialeah were arrested Jan. 13 by Maine State Police as they prepared to return to Florida, according to court documents. They had arrived in Bangor from Orlando on Jan. 7.
Lueje-Rodriguez was released Jan. 14 from the Penobscot County Jail on $50,000 cash bail before making his first court appearance, according to a previously published report. He has not been charged in federal court.
Bail for Perez-Calvo was set at $100,000 cash on Jan. 15 when he appeared before District Court Judge John Lucy at the Penobscot Judicial Center. Perez-Calvo remained Wednesday at the Penobscot County Jail unable to make bail.
Perez-Calvo waived a detention hearing on the federal charge and agreed to be held without bail.
Between Jan. 7 and 13 Perez-Calvo and Lueje-Rodriguez allegedly used debit and credit card numbers assigned to customers from 10 different banks and credit unions in Maine to purchase more than $50,000 worth of gift and credit cards, the complaint filed in federal court said. During that time period, he and Lueje-Rodriguez visited at least 29 Rite Aid stores and 11 Hannaford supermarkets, where they allegedly used numbers from 43 different accounts.
How the men obtained the numbers has not been made public.
“The suspects used the stolen bank information to create fictitious debit cards and make purchases throughout Maine at Rite Aid, Walgreens and Hannaford stores, among others,” state police spokesman Stephen McCausland said in January when the men were arrested. “The purchases generally were prepaid Visa cards.”
One bank manager told police that in a recent, similar scam, criminals used a “card skimmer at a local merchant” to get the credit card information, and then the stolen bank data was sold on the internet, a previous report said.
The pair came to the attention of law enforcement after a detective with the Saco Police Department reported his debit card information had been used to purchase about $1,679 in merchandise at Rite Aid stores in Guilford, Milo, Dexter and Millinocket on Jan. 8, according to a previously published report.
Once indicted by a federal grand jury, the state charges most likely will be dropped.
Both men are natives of Cuba but are permanent legal residents of the United States, the complaint said.
If convicted, Perez-Calvo faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. He faces an additional maximum sentence of two years behind bars if convicted on the identity theft charge.