A 75-month prison term was the price set by U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens for a Chilean national's credit card theft romp across the United States. The sentence follows Rene Arviso Velasquez's guilty plea to access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri. At 51 years old, Velasquez's criminal spree has come to a halt, with a tally of at least $40,000 fleeced from unsuspecting victims.
In a defining incident from his spree, Velasquez was caught on surveillance swiftly pilfering a Lululemon belt bag from a diner's chair at a Cottleville, Missouri restaurant. The cards from the bag were then recklessly used to quickly purchase Visa gift cards, among other items. In less than an hour, Velasquez used a stolen card to splurge on a peculiar combination of gift cards and a pack of salted nuts totaling $1,031, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The brazenness did not stop here; Velasquez continued to employ similar tactics at other locations, showing a knack for rapidly converting someone else's plastic into his profit—with nary a thought spared for the repercussions to each rightful cardholder's life.
The events of Aug. 25 and Nov. 3, 2024, outline only a slice of Velasquez's crimes, extending well beyond Missouri's borders. Another instance pinned to Velasquez saw the swift theft of a purse in Brentwood, where the purloined credit card was used to buy $1,445 worth of gift cards. Moreover, on Nov. 3, a wallet was swiped at a St. Peters restaurant, followed by the purchase of five Visa gift cards and a Pepsi, racking up a $1,035 bill, all on the victim's dime. It's a string of acts that paints a picture of a man on a mission to gather as much unauthorized gain as he could carry.
Rene Arviso Velasquez has also been known to use aliases including Miguel Antonio Carrasco-Gomez and Henry Diaz. Although he was residing in Tarzana, California, his Chilean nationality sets the stage for potential immigration consequences upon the completion of his prison time. The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman.
