2 men charged in car loan fraud scheme

HERRIMAN — Two men were charged Monday in connection with a car loan scam that may be connected to another recent arrest.

Yonder Jesus Reyes-Zabala, 25, and Jose Miguel Espinoza Araujo, 23, were each charged in 3rd District Court with communications fraud, a second-degree felony; and forgery and possession of a forged writing, third-degree felonies.

On Sept. 15, Herriman police were called to credit union to investigate a possible fraud in progress, according to charging documents. Officers arrived to find Reyes-Zabala and Espinoza sitting in the lobby. Espinoza had applied that morning for a title loan for $41,000 for the purchase of a 2025 Ford Explorer.

"Espinoza Araujo and Reyes-Zabala attempted to withdraw the entire amount of the loan, but the Herriman branch stated that they could only provide them with $15,000. Espinoza Araujo and Reyes-Zabala then went to the Riverton branch where they withdrew $10,000 and the Draper branch where they attempted to withdraw the remaining amount. The Draper branch sent them back to the Herriman branch to inquire about an issue they identified on the account," the charges state.

That issue was "irregularities" in the documents provided by Espinoza, "including clear misspellings of words in the pay stubs – including a misspelling of the name of the business. The pay stubs also showed no federal tax withholdings despite claiming significant income," according to the charges.

Officers confirmed that the Texas business listed on the paystubs did not exist, the charges state.

"When asked again about the discrepancies, Espinoza Araujo admitted that he paid $100 to someone whom he met at a Smith's grocery store to provide him with fake pay stubs," according to the charges.

Reyes-Zabala eventually admitted that he obtained pay stubs from a friend and then "altered the paystubs by putting his name on them. He stated in order to obtain the credit cards, he needed to show he was making more money or had different employment," charging documents state.

The court documents do not state whether the men are connected to Edgar J. Diaz Rincon, 46, who was arrested on Thursday in Kearns after attempting to obtain a $30,000 loan for a vehicle that was recently sold at an auction in Texas for just $7,600 because it was "totaled."

When Rincon was arrested, police noted in their jail booking affidavit that at least two other police agencies had recently been investigating crimes with similar modus operandi, and that Rincon's case was "believed to be part of a larger organized fraud ring conducted in the same manner."

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