A long line of cars wait for gas a the Safeway fuel station in Pleasant Hill, Calif., on Friday, June 30, 2023. Gas was selling for $4.35 for cash and $4.45 for credit. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE — Two East Bay men have been charged with an alleged scheme in which one used a credit card skimmer to illicitly buy thousands of gallons of fuel from a Safeway gas station, then resold it to the second man’s trucking company, authorities said.
Yuniel Cordero, 40, of Oakland, and Henry Umana, 44, of San Leandro, were charged in the past week by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. They last appeared in court Monday, when a judge granted them supervised release.
“These defendants were criminally filling up their fuel tanks and their pockets, using the stolen property of others,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
Prosecutors allege that Cordero used an electronic skimming device to steal credit card information from customers at undetermined businesses in the Bay Area. He then allegedly used those credit cards to buy diesel fuel from a Safeway gas station in South San Jose and pump it in a “makeshift bladder” he installed in the back of a truck.
From there, investigators accuse Cordero of selling the stolen fuel to Umana’s trucking company in San Leandro, at a price of $3.50 to $3.75 per gallon, compared to the state average of around $5.10 per gallon. In total, prosecutors assert that the scheme involved about $90,000 worth of fuel.
Most of the stolen fuel was pumped at the South San Jose station, though at least one other Safeway gas station in the Bay Area may was used by Cordero, said Ed Liang, supervising attorney for the DA’s major crime and drug trafficking unit.
Cordero was charged with 61 counts of grand theft, 14 counts of petty theft, organized retail theft, identity theft and conspiracy. Umana — whose first name in charging documents is listed as “Henrry” — was charged with organized retail theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy.
When reached by phone Tuesday, Umana said he had not yet obtained an attorney and declined comment on the charges against him. Cordero’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said the crimes were discovered after someone reported that their credit card had been used at a Safeway that they never visited, prompting the grocery chain to contact DA Investigator Bret Mosieff. The ensuing investigation resulted in allegations that Cordero had stolen thousands of gallons of fuel from the South San Jose Safeway over several months.
When Cordero was arrested June 20, investigators reported finding credit card skimming devices at his home. Authorities also allege that on June 27, a team of DA investigators, Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies and officers with the California Highway Patrol’s organized retail theft task force searched Umana’s trucking company and found thousands of gallons of stolen fuel.
Originally published at Robert Salonga