Sentence handed down for gas pump skimming in Northampton 

By Linda Cicoira

Senior Judge John A. Gibney Jr. sentenced a Cuban national Thursday in U.S. District Court, in Norfolk, to three years and a month in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud on the Eastern Shore.

Thirty-eight-year-old Denis Monsibaez Diaz, and other co-conspirators who were also Cuban nationals, placed skimming devices on gas pumps in Northampton County, according to court records. The skimming devices recorded credit and debit card numbers and the PINs of the cards used by customers at the gas pumps in April and May of 2018.

With the stolen information, Diaz and his co-conspirators then bought prepaid debit gift cards with the victims’ accounts. They were attributed with attempting to steal more than $200,000 in a matter of days, the record stated.

Diaz is the seventh defendant sentenced for this conspiracy. The group was attributed with losses of more than $5 million over several years. In addition, many of the defendants had significant criminal histories involving the same conduct and were known to travel the country perpetrating this scheme, evidence showed. The leader of the crew, 33-year-old Yasmani Granja Quijada, waw found to be trading more than 9,800 stolen credit card numbers using his email account, during the past few years. He was earlier sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the conspiracy.

The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service seized numerous vehicles and other items that were purchased by the defendants with funds stolen through credit cards, including a boat and luxury vehicles. Some of the conspirators remain at large.

U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber, FBI Special Agent Brian Dugan, and Northampton Sheriff David L. Doughty announced the sentence just after it was handed down. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Yusi prosecuted the case.

.