Subelia Josefina Salas Lander | Booking Photo
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Phenomenal police work and help from the federal government led Boca Raton Detectives to Subelia Salas Lander from Caracas, Venezuela, who is accused of committing a major bank fraud to the tune of $75,000.
Read on for what Boca Raton police officials are releasing to the public:
On November 14, 2011, Boca Raton Police officers took a report of a grand theft and fraud that occurred at a Wells Fargo Bank, 980 North Federal Highway. The victim told officers that an unknown person transferred over $64,000 to an unknown account at another bank.
On November 15, the case was assigned to Boca Raton Police detectives who contacted the Wells Fargo fraud investigators. Investigators told detectives the suspect visited the bank on October 3, 2011 posing as the victim, Maria Spinnato. The suspect produced a Venezuelan passport along with a Venezuelan identification card. The suspect requested and received a Visa debit card and made a counter withdrawal in the amount of $7,000. The following day, the suspect made another counter withdrawal in the amount of $4,000, as well as completed a wire transfer to a JP Morgan Chase Bank business account in the amount of $64,390.06. Bank investigators told detectives that the victim’s accounts had been fraudulently accessed nine times, the three transactions listed in Boca Raton, and the rest in other jurisdictions.
Bank investigators provided detectives with copies of withdrawal slips, wire transfer documents, surveillance photographs, a copy of the passport used by the suspect, the account application and the signature card. They also provided a tentative identification of the suspect as Subelia Salas Lander. Detectives queried government databases and discovered Salas Lander was scheduled to fly out of Miami International Airport on December 3, to Venezuela. Detectives conducted surveillance with agents from US Customs and Border Protection at the airport and quickly recognized Salas Lander from the surveillance photographs. They then positively identified Salas Lander’s true identity through her passport.
Detectives filed charges on Salas Lander on December 13, 2011, for criminal use of personal identification, grand theft totaling $75,390.06, and organized scheme to defraud. On March 4, 2012, Salas Lander was arrested as she deplaned at the Miami International Airport.
