5 Arrested in $200,000 Macy's Gift Card Fraud

By City News Service

A man who had been on the lam since he was indicted 17 months ago on state charges of fraud, grand theft and conspiracy to commit fraud using phony Macy's gift cards was arrested in Las Vegas on a fugitive warrant and extradited to Los Angeles, a Los Angeles County sheriff's detective said Friday.

The Macy's store at Westfield Culver City was among those victimized.

Richard Reyes Duenas, 30, was living in Las Vegas and indicted by the L.A. County District Attorney's office on Jan. 25, 2012.

He faces one count of grand theft, one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, three counts of acquiring access card account information to commit grand theft and nine counts of access card forgery in connection with a gift card fraud ring that victimized Macy's Department Store, said Detective Rodney Barton of the sheriff's Commercial Crimes Bureau.

Duenas is accused, along with alleged co-conspirators Justin Delgadillo, Noemi Fuentefria, Geovani Vega and Daniel Alvarez, of stealing about $218,000 in Macy's gift card dollars and using those funds to target some 41 Macy's stores in California.

The scam was uncovered after Duenas was caught in a routine traffic stop, according to Barton. Duenas "became restive during the stop and subsequently arrested" by the deputies, according to the detective.

When deputies searched his car, they discovered 16 fraudulent Macy's cards.

Duenas was indicted by the D.A.'s office and the case was referred to the sheriff department's Commercial Crimes Bureau. A follow-up investigation alleged that Duenas was getting Macy's gift card account numbers and PIN codes via inactive cards stolen from the store.

Duenas then allegedly used the numbers to create forged gift cards which he sold at street level to people through his four co-conspirators, according to Barton. Duenas and his alleged associates also used the cards to make Macy's purchases of electronic equipment amounting to $218,000.

Duenas' co-conspirators were arrested and charged with grand theft, fraud, access card forgery, and other charges and convicted on those counts, according to Barton.

When Duenas was located in Las Vegas, the sheriff's department contacted Las Vegas police, whose officers picked him up on the fugitive warrant. Duenas subsequently waived extradition and was booked into jail at the sheriff's Walnut station on Wednesday, according to Barton.

Duenas is being held in lieu of $218,000 bail, according to L.A. County jail records. No court date has been set so far.

A total of 41 Macy’s were targeted, ranging from the Oakland area to San Diego, including stores in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, Cerritos, Newport Beach, Laguna Hills, Costa Mesa, Lakewood, City of Industry, Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, North Hollywood, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Mission Viejo, Montclair, Montebello, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Escondido, La Jolla, San Diego, Chula Vista, El Cajon, National City, Pleasanton, Daly City, Hayward and Sunnyvale.