A task force of about 30 officers made two arrests this week in connection with a debit card scam involving more than $120,000 in fraud, Carbondale Police said Wednesday.

The city’s department, working with other law enforcement agencies, including SIUC police and the Secret Service, made the arrests at about 8:30 Tuesday morning. Carbondale Police Chief Bob Ledbetter said the officers executed search and arrest warrants simultaneously at many different residences.

Justin L. Buckner, 21, and Luis O. Reyes, 21, both of Carbondale, were arrested and charged with unlawful use of a credit card, theft and financial institution fraud. Two cars were also confiscated for their use in the scam.

Advertisement

Although six arrests were made during the search, not all were involved with the scam.

The other four arrests includes Branden Williams, 22, of Carbondale for failure to appear for driving while suspended; Brian A. Garland, 20, of Riverdale for resisting a police officer; and Izola M. Hicks, 20, of Chicago for failure to appear for underage possession of alcohol.

Lt. Paul Echols said the investigation began in December when several local banks’ patrons reported fraudulent activity on their accounts.

“The activity was directly related to debit cards reported lost or stolen by their account holders,” Echols said.

Echols said when the reports of lost and stolen cards came in the police realized a scam was happening and the Carbondale Police began working with the SIUC police.

SIUC Police Chief Todd Sigler said his department got involved because of similarities to a previous case.

“We had some experience in some previous cases, that were similar in nature, about 12 months ago,” Sigler said. “We noticed a lot of the same similarities, a lot of the same names would come up, so we compared some notes and saw that it was pretty much the same case.”

Advertisement*

Echols said the investigation showed that many people who had reported their cards stolen were involved in the scam.

“The investigation has revealed three levels of individuals in this scam,” he said. “The bottom level was those reporting their cards being stolen, a middle level who recruited or solicited debit cards and PINs from account holders, and those in the top level, who were the brokers, and actually used the cards to make withdraws and purchases.”

Echols said many of the people on the bottom level were recruited by friends or acquaintances and were promised some kind of compensation.

SIUC student Darrell F. Louden, 21, a junior from Carbondale studying administration of justice, was arrested on unrelated charges but Sigler said his possible involvement in the scam was under investigation.

Ledbetter said more than $120,000 in fraudulent deposits were made into accounts in six different financial institutions. Five of the institutions were in Carbondale one was in Chicago.

Ledbetter said about $50,000 worth of cash and merchandise were withdrawn or purchased from the same accounts.

“The amount of fraud continues to rise and the investigation is continuing,” he said.

Echols also said police are investigating the possibility of the fraud case being connected to a recent rash of counterfeit money in the city.

Police have issued a warrant for Brandon “B-Mo” Washington, 22, of Carbondale who is still at large for his part in the fraud.

[email protected]

536-3311 ext. 273