Montgomery Township Police Photo by James Short.
Three Philadelphia men face more than a total of 30 felonies, including racketeering, identity theft, and forgery charges, after being accused of fraudulently using a home improvement company’s credit information to purchase more than $4,500 in electrical wire from Lowe’s in Montgomeryville.
Yeuri Luis Rosa, 24, of the 6000 block of Dungan Street, Philadelphia, is charged with the following felonies: Racketeering, two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery, two counts of forgery, access device fraud and conspiracy to commit access device fraud, use of an access device to obtain property without authorization from owner and an associated conspiracy charge, identify theft and conspiracy to commit identity theft, and theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft, according to court records.
Jomar Maria-Lopez, 18, of the 6000 block of Newtown Avenue, Philadelphia, is charged with the following felonies, all conspiracy offenses: Racketeering, forgery, access device fraud, use of an access device to obtain property without authorization from the owner, identity theft, and theft by deception, according to court records.
The third offender, Emmanuel Rondon-Herrera, 24, who resides with Rosa, is charged with the following felonies: Racketeering, two counts of forgery and associated conspiracy charges, access device fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, use of an access device to obtain property without authorization from the owner and an associated conspiracy charge, identity theft and conspiracy to commit identity theft, and theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft, according to court records.
All three men are free on 10% of $25,000 cash bail each, set at arraignment July 10 by Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar, per court records.
Montgomery Township Police were called to the Lowe’s at 630 Cowpath Road on July 9 at 4:48 p.m. for a report of three men purchasing wire with a fraudulent credit card, per the affidavit. While en route, county dispatch told police the suspects were getting into a silver Dodge Caravan with temporary Delaware registration, police said.
Police found the Dodge leaving in the direction of Cowpath Road, and pulled the van over, per the complaint.
Police said there were numerous spools of unopened electrical wire in the rear of the van. Maria-Lopez, police said, was driving the van, with Rosa in the passenger seat and Rondon-Herrera in the backseat.
Police ordered all three out of the van and detained them, as Lowe’s loss prevention arrived on scene and identified the trio as the alleged thieves. Police said Rosa and Rondon-Herrera were known by loss prevention from prior incidents at other Lowe’s locations.
Police said Rosa and Rondon-Herrera entered the Lowe’s, selected nine spools of wire totaling $2,554.69, and then checked out at the self-checkout. Using a customer lookup feature, they entered information for a home improvement company based in Portage, Michigan, police said, and purchased the wire.
The two left the store, went out to the van, where, police said, Maria-Lopez remained as the driver, unloaded the wire, and then went back into the store.
Then, Rondon-Herrera and Rosa, police allege, selected five more spools of wire, totaling $2,144.91, went to self-checkout and repeated the fraudulent process.
The owner of the home improvement business called Lowe’s and told them the purchases were not authorized, per the affidavit.
Police said the trio were found with numerous receipts for electrical wire from other Lowe’s locations in the Montgomery and Bucks county area from the day prior to their arrests on July 9.
A preliminary hearing for Maria-Lopez is set for Aug. 6 at 11 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Hakim K. Jones, in Norristown, per court records.
A preliminary hearing for Rondon-Herrera and Rosa is scheduled for Aug. 6 at 11 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy, per court records.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
