Santiago.- The Santiago Prosecutor’s Office filed formal charges against 21 defendants, including two corporate entities, involved in a cybercrime network that defrauded hundreds of elderly Americans of millions of dollars through electronic fraud, and whose fraudulent schemes were investigated and thwarted by Operation Discovery 2.0.
The indictment filed shortly before midnight yesterday, Monday, with the General Secretariat of the Criminal Jurisdiction of this judicial district, comprises 950 pages containing more than 450 pieces of evidence, including documentary, expert, material, testimonial and other evidence.
This evidence, collected in the various investigative proceedings carried out by the Santiago Prosecutor’s Office, with the support of the Special Division for the Investigation of Transnational Crimes (Deidet), the National Police, the New York Police and the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of the United States, reveals the fraudulent maneuvers through which the accused stole resources from the insurance system and retirement funds to the detriment of hundreds of senior citizens.
Operation Discovery 2.0 is one of the most complex investigations in recent years for the Santiago Prosecutor’s Office, whose experts, prosecutors and lawyers analyzed thousands of documents and processed court orders for hundreds of wiretaps, in an effort to identify and analyze the profiles of the strategists of this mafia structure.
The investigation, in addition to dismantling one of the best-structured criminal organizations based on the multiple roles its members played in planning and executing the scams, uncovered the vulnerable state of those affected, retired older workers, who lost the savings they had had for decades to have a guarantor that would guarantee them coverage of their needs.
To date, the following from the group of accused remain serving the preventive detention ordered by the First Instance: Miguel Angel Camilo Perez, Erick Angel Pena Nunez, Juan Armando Vasquez Ramirez, Freddy Urtarte (lMetra), Hayler Andres Olivarez Nunez and Kelvin Antonio Carmona Sanchez.
You can read: Detailed scheme to defraud the elderly
The crimes attributed to the network, which were admitted by several defendants, include fraud, intimidation, identity theft and money laundering.
As part of the international cooperation agreements, the Prosecutor’s Office processed with the United States, through its investigative agencies, the extradition process of the defendants Juan Rafael Peña Arias, José Ismael Diloné Rodríguez, Félix Manuel Reynoso Ventura, Rafael Ambiorix Rodríguez Guzmán and Miguel Ángel Vásquez, who are being tried for these crimes in that nation.
The Prosecutor’s Office requests the confiscation of hundreds of material assets such as vehicles, properties and cash
The grievances
In addition to the economic damage suffered by hundreds of elderly people, the crimes committed by the members of this structure constitute an insult to the image of the Dominican Republic, which in turn damages tourism, one of the main activities on which the national economy is based; it affects the nation’s relations with other countries, and represents a breaking point for the future and stability of the families who are deprived of their resources.
The prosecution has determined that one of the defendants, Claudio Santana or Claudio Mercedes, arrested in the proceedings, was deported to the United States, where he faces charges for various crimes committed against the legislation of that nation.
The Prosecutor’s Office conducted this investigation against these cybercriminals who were the owners and operators of four clandestine call centers, which were raided, seizing conclusive evidence of the crimes charged.
Operation Discovery 2.0 was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of officers and investigators that included more than 26 prosecutors, more than 230 National Police officers and technicians from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against High-Tech Crimes and Offenses, and from the General Prosecution Directorate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which was used in operational coordination.
