A man accused in a major credit card forgery ring was a part-time bartender at the Bicycle Club restaurant in Englewood Cliffs, one of several restaurants where employees were recruited to skim credit card numbers for criminal use, authorities said.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
James O’Connell, 44, of Pine Bush, N.Y., is accused of working as a “skimmer,” using a device to surreptitiously record information from the magnetic strip on customers’ credit cards. O’Connell is also accused of giving credit card information to the alleged ringleader, 41-year-old Luis Damian “D.J.” Jacas, according to an indictment.
Using credit card-skimming devices, ring members stole the account numbers and credit card data of at least 50 American Express account holders and used the information to create counterfeit credit cards, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said. The alleged thieves used the cards to buy things for themselves or to sell for profit, authorities said.
In indictments announced on Friday, 28 people were charged for their alleged roles in ring, which operated between April 2010 and this month.
Jimmy Macagna, the owner of the Bicycle Club, said he was shocked to learn about the charges from a reporter on Friday and added that authorities had not contacted him about the investigation. Macagna said O’Connell, a part-time employee who had worked at the restaurant a couple of nights a week for more than a year, did not show up for a scheduled shift Thursday.
O’Connell was a jolly bartender, who worked on Mondays and knew his sports, particularly football, Macagna said. He was a family man, a father of two young children who was conscientious and never late, Macagna said.
“That’s why it was very shocking to us,” he said.
He added: “I have zero tolerance for something of this sort. His co-workers became victims because everyone looked at them like they did something wrong.”
Macagna said no one had told him how many people O’Connell is accused of victimizing.
An indictment document lists several times O’Connell contacted Jacas in mid-September via text message, a phone call and an in-person meeting in which the two allegedly discussed skimming credit card data or committing fraud.
A public-records search indicated that Jacas may have been the treasurer at a Fort Lee tobacco shop called La Casa de Humo at 206 Main Street — a space currently occupied by a store called the Cigar Room. A man who answered the phone there on Monday said he had no knowledge of Jacas, and that a business named “La Casa de Humo” had never operated at that location. A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Joan Vollero, declined to comment on a possible New Jersey connection for Jacas.
Members of the criminal organization recruited waiters in high-end restaurants to work as skimmers, authorities said. The restaurants included The Bicycle Club, Morton’s in Stamford, Conn., and Smith & Wollensky, the Capital Grille, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse and JoJo in Manhattan, they said.
O’Connell was charged with conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty on Friday, Vollero said. It was not clear Monday whether he had posted bail or was still in custody.
