Theft pattern goes back to October 2008
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Three people have been arrested and are being held in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center, booked on racketeering charges that involved skimming credit cards which were duplicated and used to fraudulently purchase goods.
Corey Skinner, Mark Nielsen and Amanda Stillwell are each being held on $100,000 bond.
The fugitives were arrested by CSPD on Wednesday, March 10, at 2124 Boston Terrace, Colorado Springs, with the assistance of the Tactical Enforcement Unit (TEU).
They were wanted by Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) Financial Crimes Division for rackeetering and had been involved in a pattern which had been occurring in the Colorado Springs area since approximately October 2008.
During this pattern, the three had recruited employees working at fast food restaurants in the area to skim credit cards, which were later duplicated. The accused would use the duplicated credit cards to purchase goods from local retail outlets.
It is believed the trio became aware of police attention and moved their theft operations to other cities, including Woodland Park and Broomfield. In those cities, they took up memberships at recreation centers and gymnasiums so they could pick the locks of other customers in order to attain credit cards and skim them.
Additional purchases were again made in Colorado Springs and Canon City, according to police.
The case was broken when ENT Federal Credit Union identified the location where the suspects were skimming the credit cards.
Numerous financial institutions, as well as citizens, of Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Broomfield and Woodland Park are among the victims.
Police have recovered the skimming devices and several computers used in the scheme.
The investigation is ongoing.
Information provided by Colorado Springs Police Department.
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