Former Fugitive Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for I.D. Theft, Credit Card Fraud

NEWARK—Former fugitive Luis Colon, a/k/a “Mike,” a/k/a “Junito,” was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for purchasing more than $90,000 in pesticides and pesticide applicators from wholesale suppliers using stolen credit card and debit card account numbers, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Colon, 29, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh to counts one and 19 of a superseding indictment charging him with conspiring to commit credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Colon and his co-conspirators obtained credit card and debit card numbers by calling individuals in Michigan and posing as a representative of a local utility company. They used the stolen credit card and debit card numbers to purchase pesticides and pesticide applicators from wholesalers outside New Jersey and directed the wholesalers to ship the products to various locations, including Colon’s home address in Union City and a co-conspirator’s address in West New York, New Jersey. Colon and his co-conspirators subsequently sold some of the products to a pesticide retailer in Philadelphia for cash. The stolen debit and credit card numbers were also used to purchase bus tickets, which were used by Colon and others to transport the pest control products to Philadelphia.

Colon fled after he was released on bail. After more than six months on the run, he was apprehended in Detroit on April 9, 2012, following a tip that resulted from a billboard fugitive announcement posted by the FBI.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Cavanaugh sentenced Colon to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $78,182 to the victims.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O’Leary of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.