A Cuban national arrested in Florence has been sentenced in federal court for possession of counterfeit Wal-Mart gift cards, U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins said in a press release issued Friday.
U.S. District Judge R. Bryan Harwell sentenced 27-year-old Roberto Periut Pina, who had been living in Miami, to a year in prison and ordered that he cooperate with immigration authorities regarding his deportation.
Pina was arrested Feb. 19 after police said he tried to use 10 different credit cards at the same time at the Wal-Mart SuperCenter on Beltline Drive in Florence.
It raised suspicion when he swiped a card and, when that card was declined, he would swipe another only to have that card declined, and so on. The cashier called police, but the suspect ran from the store. He was later apprehended near Hobby Lobby where police found the 10 cards in his wallet. Police searched the suspect’s car and found 82 more credit cards, along with a false identification.
Printed on the cards were legitimate account numbers that had apparently been stolen over the Internet by hackers. The cards themselves were not issued by creditors, but were made illegally using some type of machine.
An analysis of a GPS unit in Pina’s car revealed that he had sought directions to 27 Wal-Mart stores in 22 cities between Miami and Florence; however, no other stores had yet reported losses associated with him.
Assistant U.S.Attorney William E. Day II of the Florence office handled the case, which also was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service.
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