LOS ANGELES
A Romanian man, Sorin-Miguel Ghiorghe, 46, from Los Angeles, pleaded guilty Friday to his role in a scheme involving illegal ATM skimmers.
He used the skimmers to steal account information, which he and his accomplices used to create fake debit cards and withdraw cash from victims’ accounts.
Ghiorghe admitted to using these counterfeit cards to take thousands of dollars from various accounts.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter has scheduled Ghiorghe’s sentencing for January 6. He faces up to 30 years in prison for each bank fraud charge, 10 years for the unauthorized access devices, and a mandatory additional two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Prosecutors believe he entered the U.S. illegally and targeted funds from California’s Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) accounts, meant to aid low-income residents through programs like CalFresh and CalWorks.
When authorities searched his apartment, they found ATM-skimming equipment and EBT account information belonging to other people.
The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Max A. Shapiro is leading the prosecution.