GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WTVB) – The ringleader of a skimming scheme in West Michigan, which included a pair of gas stations in Coldwater, is being put in federal prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced yesterday that 45-year-old Guillermo Rodriguez of Miami, Florida was given a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Officials say Rodriguez ran a scheme in 2015 that used skimming devices on gas station pumps in West Michigan.
The electronic devices were found at two Shell Stations in Coldwater in November 2015. They are designed to steal credit card and ATM card information whenever someone used the gas pump.
Two Florida men who were charged with installing skimming devices on gas pumps were sentenced in May 2016 in Branch County Circuit Court.
38-year-old William Vergara of Miami and 48-year-old Mario Lorente of Davie both entered guilty pleas to a reduced felony charge of attempted possession of a skimming device. Vergara and Lorente were arrested in Huntington County, Indiana a day after the devices were found in Coldwater.
Rodriguez is the last of ten people from the Miami area to be sentenced in the scheme, and he received the longest sentence.
