“Il Padrino” is sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for scams with forged checks

Miami – Carlos Miguel Rodríguez, alias “Il Padrino”, 45, was sentenced to 129 months in prison (more than 10 years) as responsible for a national plan to collect forged checks and identity theft, and to return more than $ 1.8 million in casualties, the prosecution said Wednesday.

Rodriguez, a Miami resident, used the fraud’s profits to buy a 39-foot Midnight Express speedboat with 400-horsepower triple Mercury engines, among other goods.

The defendant executed the fraud plan with the help of two of his sons, Carlos Miguel and Taily, and other people who were also prosecuted and convicted, according to a statement from the South Florida District Attorney’s Office.

To carry out the scam, Rodriguez and his daughter bought names, dates of birth, addresses and social security numbers of bank customers on the “dark web”.

With the stolen information, Rodriguez’s son was able to access the victims’ bank accounts and change contact information to a phone number he and his father controlled.

They also downloaded checks signed by account holders to use as templates for counterfeit checks.

Once the counterfeit checks were ready, “Il Padrino” was passed on to other people with the task of looking for people to go to the banks to collect them.

Sometimes Rodriguez himself did the work and recruited people who lived on the streets or in shelters for the homeless.

The scammers had counterfeit checks cashed at banks in South Florida and in California, Texas and Utah, states to which they traveled for this purpose.

The now convicted person deposited the cash of the forged checks in different bank accounts to disguise the source of money.

In January 2020, Rodriguez’s father pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and electronic fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of possession of a firearm by a convict.

“Il Padrino” son Carlos Miguel Rodriguez Jr. and Kenny Alfaro were sentenced Tuesday to 52 months in prison and 46 months in prison, respectively.

Each was ordered to return more than $ 1.8 million to the victims.

Months ago Raúl Alpizar González was sentenced to 52 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $ 1.8 million.

Taily Rodríguez and Maipu Fonseca were sentenced to 24 months in prison and full credit time, respectively.