STEELTON, Pa. — A 23-year-old Bronx, New York man will serve up to two years in prison and pay $19,130.01 in restitution after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft in connection to a 2020 case in Steelton, Dauphin County, U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus announced Wednesday.
Marlon Valoy De La Rosa, 23, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo on June 8, Gurganus said.
On Jan. 4, 2020, at about 4:30 a.m., De La Rosa and two other people were caught tampering with a U.S. mailbox in Steelton.
One of the other accomplices, later identified as Enrique Reyes, used what appeared to be a white rope with an object attached to it to “fish” into the mailbox’s opening while a second individual, later identified as Josue Peguero, stood nearby as a lookout, Gurganus said.
De La Rosa drove the vehicle in which the individuals arrived and left the scene, according to Gurganus.
Following a traffic stop, the suspects were found to be in possession of numerous debit cards in different names, none of which matched De La Rosa, Reyes, or Peguero, Gurganus said.
De La Rosa possessed a receipt from a fraudulent ATM transaction using a stolen check and a stolen, washed check belonging to a different person, according to Gurganus.
The investigation showed that De La Rosa, Reyes, and Peguero had conducted multiple fraudulent debit card transactions in New York City just prior to traveling to the Harrisburg area and had also recently traveled to the Boston area, where they had gone mail fishing and obtained additional checks from the mail, Gurganus said.
Their debit card transactions involved the use of stolen, altered checks and debit cards belonging to other people, according to Gurganus.
Gurganus said the investigation further determined that the three had been involved in the stealing of checks and the depositing of these checks in a fraudulent manner for several months leading up to the time of their arrest.
The case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Steelton Borough Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ravi Romel Sharma prosecuted the case.
