Alleged Gas Skimmer Bandits Nabbed In Aventura

AVENTURA, FL — Aventura police nabbed two alleged gasoline skimmer bandits at a city gas station over the long holiday weekend. Luis Reyes and Nelson Leonardo Fonseca Diaz were arrested at the Marathon gas station located at 21055 Biscayne Boulevard. Police said the pair were allegedly attempting to install credit card skimmers at the time of their arrest.

Skimmers are devices used to capture data on debit and credit cards. There have been no shortage of such incidents throughout Florida and elsewhere.

"Aventura police officers conducting routine patrol operations observed a white cargo van parked at the Marathon gas station," according to Sergeant Chris Goranitis of the Aventura Police Department, who said that the men were "manipulating" the fuel pump cover when they were spotted.

"Further investigation revealed that the males were in the process of installing skimmers on the gas pump," Goranitis explained. "Additionally, the van was converted to a mobile gas van and contained two fuel bladders, capable of holding over 1,200 gallons of fuel."

He said that one of the bladders had approximately 100 gallons of fuel in it. He added that Reyes was out on bond from a previous arrest related to the illegal transportation of fuel.

"Aventura detectives discovered that subject Reyes was in possession of several re-encoded credit cards and are continuing to investigate this," Goranitis said.

Luis Reyes (left) and Nelson Leonardo Fonseca Diaz Photos courtesy Aventura Police Department