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SALT LAKE CITY — St. George police are looking for a Hispanic couple that investigators believe used religious affiliation to defraud other Latino victims, according to charging documents.
On Tuesday, Rosa Maria Munoz Lainez, 40, was charged in 5th District Court with seven counts of communication fraud, four second-degree felonies and three third-degree felonies.
An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Lainez, who prosecutors say is not in the U.S. legally and is believed to have fled Utah.
According to charging documents, Lainez and another man, who she called her husband, befriended several Hispanic people in St. George and offered to sell them goods and services such as vehicles, modular trailers and immigration legal services.
“The victims described how the suspects had joined their church congregation and were very convincing in how they led them all to believe they had the ability to sell/broker very good deals in purchasing the goods and legal services. The victims all appear to be Hispanic and they unanimously believe they were targeted based on their similar cultural and religious beliefs,” the charges state.
Police say Lainez gained the trust of her victims, who then paid her “large amounts of cash,” the charges state, for cars, trailers and alleged legal services. However, “Rosa did not follow through or pay any of the victims in full. She never provided any goods or services,” according to the charges.
When victims complained, Lainez refunded some of them a portion of their money. But as of Tuesday, St. George police had identified at least eight victims who are still owed more than $102,000 according to the charges.
“I have been advised there are potentially several other victims who have not come forward formally as of yet,” the investigating officer wrote his in his affidavit.
When the issue came to a head, investigators say Lainez and the man fled to Provo. It was at that point that the victims “conducted their own investigation by posting information to social media” and learned that the couple is believed to have committed similar fraud in Las Vegas, the charges state.
The victims then went to Provo where they discovered “that Rosa and her husband had yet again joined a church congregation. They suspected that they were continuing to defraud other potential victims and they alerted the pastor of the church and the local police department,” according to charging documents.
As of Tuesday, the investigation into potential victims in Provo was continuing.
Formal charges had not been filed against the husband as of Wednesday as detectives were still working to verify his identity.
