Crime & Safety

Two Men Charged Fraud, Identity Theft

Inver Grove Heights Police arrested two men for allegedly using fake credit cards and identification to purchase goods at stores in Burnsville and West St. Paul.

Inver Grove Heights Police arrested two men for allegedly using fake credit cards and identification to purchase goods at stores in Burnsville and West St. Paul.

Two men face felony charges after one of them accidentally kicked open a box full of fake credit cards while being questioned by police.

Officers with the Inver Grove Heights Police Department arrested Luis Angel Rivas-Larrazabal, 34, and 39-year-old Horacio Mesa Machado after an incident on Wednesday. It is unclear where the men truly reside: Both were allegedly carrying multiple state IDs. Rivas-Larrazabal initially gave officers a driver's license issued by the state of Nevada. However, the man also carried a North Carolina driver's license with another name. Likewise, Machado purportedly carried a Nevada ID and second driver's license from New Mexico.

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According to the criminal complaint, officers from the Inver Grove PD encountered the two after getting a call from a retail store on Mendota Road East. Loss prevention employees reported two suspects trying to purchase $400 gift certificates with fake credit cards.

The suspects left the scene while the officers were en route, parked their silver minivan at a nearby coffee shop and went into another shop. Two men remained inside the van. When officers arrived, they could not find the suspects described by the reporting party inside the store, but questioned the occupants of the vehicle — Rivas-Larrazabal and Machado.

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Officers asked Machado to step out. As he did, he tripped over a black box, scattering credit cards all over the floor. Among them, officers found at least five fake credit cards, along with a list of names and credit card numbers. They also found receipts for purchases at stores in Burnsville and West St. Paul. When officers ran the license plate number for the minivan they found that it belonged to a red car of a different VIN, make and model.

Rivas-Larrazabal and Machado have been charged with fraud and identity theft. 

 

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