Aragon pled guilty to 50 felony counts including 33 counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information, 13 counts of grand theft, two counts of counterfeiting access cards, and one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime and the sale or transport of a controlled substance. He also admitted to property damage over $1 million and aggravated white collar crime over $500,000, according to a statement by the Orange County (Calif.) District Attorney's Office.
Aragon is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in a California state prison at his sentencing Sept. 28, 2012.
According to the statement, Aragon led a crime ring which included his wife Clara Aragon and six co-defendants – Sarah Gunderson, Elizabeth Esquer, Nancy Silva, Guy Shitrit, Federico Vigo, and Marcus Rojas. Shitrit was a hacker who obtained victims’ credit card numbers used to encode forged credit cards.
Aragon and his accomplices used credit profiles and personal identifying information of victims to make fraudulent California driver’s licenses, credit cards, and gift cards. They encoded the magnetic strips of the credit and gift cards with stolen account information and used the cards to purchase high-end merchandise, including designer handbags, jewelry, clothing, and electronics. Aragon and his accomplices then resold the merchandise on eBay and craigslist.
The Carders Market was an illegal forum on the internet where cybercriminals traded payment card details. Another leader of the Carders Market, Max Butler, pled guilty in 2009 to two counts of wire fraud in connection with the theft of almost two million credit and debit card details, as well as $86 million of allegedly fraudulent purchases.