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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Two Florida men accused of installing a card skimming device at a gas pump were arrested thanks to an alert police officer.
But the men were released from the Salt Lake County Jail five hours later due to overcrowding issues, and now police don't believe they'll ever find them again.
"They were trying to install a card skimmer. And I guess they've been flying around and doing it all over the country. And before our detectives could call Monday morning to retain them at the jail, the jail had already released them. Now they're in the wind," said Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Ryan Shosted.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said he will own up to mistakes when they are made. But in this case, he said his jail did nothing wrong.
"To blame the jail now when they got out, and all (police) tell us when they arrive is, 'Here's a third-degree felony for fraud,' what are we supposed to do?” Winder said.
Just before 4 a.m. Sunday, a Cottonwood Heights police officer noticed a U-Haul van and an SUV at the same pump at a Shell Gas Station, 1344 E. Fort Union Blvd. The driver of each vehicle was acting suspiciously, standing very close to the pump, Shosted said. Then the officer noticed one of the vehicles was parked so its gas tank was on the opposite side of the pump.
"After several minutes, neither were putting gas in their car, so he knew they were up to something," Shosted said.
The officer approached the men, noticed a screwdriver on one of the seats, and arrested them. One of the men resisted as the officer put handcuffs on him, according to Shosted.
Ariel Alejandro Alpizar Gonzalez, 22, of Orlando, Florida, and Alayn Espinosa-Lopez, 24, of Kissimmee, Florida, were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of obtaining encoded information on a financial card, and criminal mischief. Espinosa-Lopez was also arrested for investigation of interfering with an arrest.
The men are currently on probation out of Florida for doing the same thing there, Shosted said. One of them had just flown into Utah from Florida and rented the truck, he said. Investigators believe the two were in Utah specifically to install card skimming devices on several gas pumps, and tried to use the large vehicles to hide their activity.
Inside their vehicles, detectives seized a laptop, multiple cellphones and a card skimming machine, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
Card skimming devices read the magnetic strip on a person's bank card. So whenever a person uses a debit or credit card to pay for gas, a machine will read their card information, transmit it back to the owners of the device, who then typically sell that credit card information to another person.
The people who install card skimmers are rarely caught, Shosted said, but their actions affect thousands of people locally from all walks of life.
"When they put these skimmers in, think about how many people fill up gas, how many people that cycle through a gas station. And these suspects are just driving around to every gas station installing these devices. Think about how bad this messes up somebody's life. It takes away people's house payment, it takes away utility payments, it takes away food for their children. Everybody buys gas," Shosted said.
"It's kind of frustrating because you don't catch people like this."
Cottonwood Heights Police Chief Robby Russo was critical Tuesday of the release of the two men, blaming the recently enacted new booking policy at the Salt Lake County Jail.
"Sheriff Winder cannot stand up and pound the pulpit at the U.S. Attorney's Office and talk about how important these identity theft and fraud cases are and how they jeopardize people's finances and lives, and then turn around and release somebody from jail who has accumulated thousands of names and personal account information before ICE has a chance to put a detainer on them because they're here illegally," Russo said.
Winder said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was, in fact, notified. He also noted that no one at the jail received a heads up about making a special hold on the two arrested men. Winder said when Rep. Jason Chaffetz held his town hall meeting at Brighton High School, Cottonwood Heights police asked ahead of time for a blanket override of the booking policies for that evening.
"That should suggest that Cottonwood Heights knows very well how to override our restrictions,” Winder said. "Chief Russo ought not complain about a process that he and his agency have used to their advantage very recently to great success."
Winder said he takes a strong stance against identity theft, as the press conference suggested, and isn't interested in getting into a public war of words over the issue.
"It was a simple booking. The same as any third-degree felony card skimming that we would do. So we have no way to know that there is any other issues Cottonwood Heights is concerned about, or any other agency,” he said.
In February, Winder, along with several other state and local law enforcers, stood beside U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber at a press conference announcing that a federal grand jury had returned a 56-count indictment against eight people, with the charges ranging from conspiracy to commit bank fraud to identity theft to drugs.
A year ago, Winder enacted a new policy at the jail in an effort to relieve overcrowding issues. The plan has different phases depending on the current population. One phase doesn't allow jail officers to book those arrested for class A misdemeanor crimes, with the exception of DUI, domestic violence crimes, child abuse, violation of a protective order or any crime that would put them on the sex/kidnapping offender registry of convicted.
Cottonwood Heights believe the two men have already fled the state.
Shosted reminded residents that if they see something at a gas pump that appears suspicious, say something.
"If they pull up to gas pump and it looks like its been altered, don't be afraid to ask an attendant to take a look at it," he said.
