Two Dominicans extradited to the United States last week appeared yesterday, for the first time, before a court in Newark, New Jersey, to answer the charges filed against them in relation to their participation in the network that defrauded elderly Americans of millions of dollars.
Rafael Ambiorix Rodríguez Guzmán (Max Morgan), 59, and Félix Samuel Reynoso Ventura (Fil The Kid), 37, from Santiago de los Caballeros, are accused of defrauding adults through calls they made from centers in the Dominican Republic, posing as their relatives.
The two are among 11 Dominicans charged in a 19-count indictment filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, which was unsealed on April 29. Following their initial appearance yesterday, the court ordered the detention of both men pending trial.
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According to the indictment, Rodriguez Guzman, Reynoso Ventura and their co-conspirators engaged in a lengthy scam targeting “grandparents” or “family in need of bail” living in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Both Rodriguez Guzman and Reynoso Ventura are alleged to have worked at call centers in the Dominican Republic from which they operated, calling elderly Americans to steal their money.
As detailed in court documents, members of the conspiracy, known as “openers,” called victims in the United States and posed as the victims’ children, grandchildren or other close relatives. The call centers used technology to make it appear that the calls were coming from within the United States.
