A 51-year-old man, identified as Rene Arviso Velasquez, has admitted to a spree of credit card thefts spanning across the country, with significant activity in the St. Louis area. In a guilty plea entered in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Velasquez confessed to three counts of access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
Velasquez's crimes, as outlined in the plea agreement, pin him down for thefts totaling at least $47,000. The documented incidents included the theft of a Lululemon belt bag in Cottleville, Missouri, and subsequent purchases with the stolen card on August 25, 2024, and two other similar thefts at restaurants in Brentwood and St. Peters. Using various aliases, such as Miguel Antonio Carrasco-Gomez and Henry Diaz, the man's true identity is revealed as a Chilean national who resided in Tarzana, California.
Scheduled for sentencing on February 17, 2026, Velasquez faces a substantial time behind bars. Access device fraud charges could result in as many as 10 years in prison, coupled with a fine of $250,000. The additional charge of aggravated identity theft adds a mandatory two-year prison term to the sentence.
The investigation, carried out by Homeland Security Investigations under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, brought Velasquez's crime wave to an end. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman took on the prosecution, ensuring the case reached a guilty plea.
