Two Foreign Nationals Charged with Credit Card Fraud

The United States Attorney’s Office has charged two foreign nationals with credit card fraud.  Mrejuica Madalin, 30, and Laszlo Solomes, 31, were arrested by St. Louis County Police on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 on suspicion of credit card fraud.

On Tuesday morning, the pair were observed using a succession of different cards at an ATM in the 4300 block of Telegraph Road in South St. Louis County.  Responding to a citizen complaint, the St. Louis County Police stopped their vehicle and discovered a large quantity of cash, stolen mail and financial documents in the name of a third party.  The investigation continued and a search of the pair’s hotel room revealed a large cache of counterfeit gift cards and stored value cards, a laptop computer and a card encoding machine.

The United States Attorney’s Office has sought detention of Madalin and Solomes as it appears neither is legally in the United States.  Madalin was traveling under a counterfeit Belgian passport in the name of another.  Solomes was in possession of a valid Hungarian passport but appears not to hold a valid visa to be in the United States.

Both men appeared in federal court on a criminal complaint charging them with possession of 15 or more counterfeit access devices in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section 1029(a)(3), which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a maximum fine of $250,000 or both.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the St. Louis County Police Department, the Immigration and the Customs Enforcement (ICE) Bureau of the Department of Homeland Security.  Tom Albus is handling the case for the United States Attorney’s Office.