CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Carlos Iglesias, alias “Abraham Reyes,” 39, was detained today by U.S. Magistrate Ruth Miller, and committed to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending his extradition to Rhode Island for bank fraud and identity theft charges, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
On Thursday, Iglesias was taken into custody by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations as he attempted to board a JetBlue flight to New York’s JFK International Airport.
Iglesias is wanted in Rhode Island on charges stemming from a 2009 bank fraud conspiracy scheme.
According to the complaint, on December 2, 2009 and December 3, 2009, Iglesias and his co-defendant entered Bank of America in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and cashed or attempted to cash fraudulent Bank of America cashier’s checks.
At Bank of America, Iglesias presented a fake United States passport in the name of “Abraham Reyes”, with his photograph in it. Iglesias opened a checking account with Bank of America in the name of “Abraham Reyes,” then cashed a fraudulent cashier’s check in the amount of $65,000 against the account, using the fake passport as identification.
Because the branch bank had insufficient funds on hand to honor the cashier’s check, Bank of America gave Iglesias two cashier’s checks in the amounts of $19,000 and $27,000, each of which Iglesias cashed and kept $19,000 for himself.
On a third occasion, Iglesias attempted to cash another fraudulent cashier’s check in the amount of $53,000, payable to “Abraham Reyes.” Bank of America, upon discovering the check cashing scheme, reported the incidents to the authorities.
According to court records, Iglesias was later interviewed by the Rhode Island State Police and admitted that on three occasions he cashed or attempted to cash fraudulent cashier’s checks at three or four Bank of America branches.
Iglesias also told the authorities that he had traveled to Rhode Island from New York to visit a friend who provided him with the fake passport, and offered February him $20,000 – $30,000 as payment for cashing the fraudulent checks.
This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
It is being prosecuted by the Rhode Island United States Attorney’s Office, and Delia Smith, Assistant United States Attorney, Virgin Islands District.
Shappert said that a criminal indictment is merely a formal charging document and is not in and of itself evidence of guilt.
“Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty,” she said.
