DORAL, Fla. — A 54-year-old mother and her 28-year-old son faced felony charges on Wednesday in Miami-Dade County after detectives accused them of an online bank fraud of more than $670,000, records show.
Detectives estimate Yuman Malpica and Jose Fernandez stole more than $671,175 from Synchrony by exploiting the Connecticut-based bank’s partnership with jewelry retailers for consumer financing, records show.
“They used victim identities to purchase jewelry on credit,” a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputy wrote, according to an April 23 report.
During their investigation, deputies followed the duo to their three-bedroom townhouse in the Neovita gated community in Doral, where Fernandez had a Mercedes-Benz and Malpica had a Porsche Macan, records show.
According to the deputies’ arrest reports, the fraudulent transactions were done on the bank’s online merchant portal through five companies registered in Florida: Jasny Jewelry, Kate Jewelry, Lissy Gold Jewelry, and Rocky Jewelry.
The transactions for Lissy Gold and Rocky resulted in over $507,000 in payments from Synchrony to a JPMorgan Chase bank account registered under Fernandez’s Doral-based JM Solutions 97 LLC, according to deputies’ reports.
On Tuesday, deputies arrested Fernandez and Malpica, who were born in Venezuela, and they remained behind bars on Wednesday with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, records show.
Miami-Dade corrections booked Fernandez, also known as Jose Manuel Fernandezmalpica and Jose Fernandez-Malpica, shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to county inmate records.
Miami-Dade corrections booked Malpica, also known as Yuman Coromotomalpica, at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday at the TGKCC, according to inmate records.
Fernandez and Malpica each faced four charges: Organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, fraudulent use of identification, and unlawful possession of five or more identifications. Their bond was $120,000 each.
A judge ordered Fernandez and Malpica to prove that the money or assets used to post bail are not criminal proceeds, records show.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.
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