ATM Jackpotting With Texas Trio

Join me to hear how Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz, Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo, and Abel Valdes Ugarte stole over $112k from ATMs! This is eCrimeBytes Season 3, Episode 19 – ATM Jackpotting With Texas Trio.

Sources:

• https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67679309/united-states-v-ruiz/
• https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67679310/united-states-v-ruiz/
• https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67679311/united-states-v-ruiz/

Transcript:

00:00:10:53 – 00:00:32:53
Dr. Keith Jones
What’s up, you crazy bastards? Welcome to another episode of eCrimeBytes. This is where I research the court documentation and roast the criminals so you don’t have to. All right, so this episode is about a trio of criminals. And the first one, his name is Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz.

00:00:32:58 – 00:00:34:52
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Hi, there.

00:00:34:57 – 00:00:39:27
Dr. Keith Jones
Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo,

00:00:39:32 – 00:00:40:27
Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo
What’s up?

00:00:40:31 – 00:00:44:44
Dr. Keith Jones
And Abel Valdes Ugarte.

00:00:44:49 – 00:00:47:03
Abel Valdes Ugarte
What’s crack a lackin?

00:00:47:07 – 00:00:54:20
Dr. Keith Jones
This crew is jackpotting ATMs. You probably wonder what ATM jack padding is.

00:00:54:25 – 00:00:56:35
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Where’d you get these pictures of us?

00:00:56:40 – 00:01:03:38
Dr. Keith Jones
Mug shots, Ruiz. Hey, since I have you, why don’t you tell me a little bit about your ATM Jackpotting?

00:01:03:43 – 00:01:26:42
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
You see this ATM over here? Most people don’t know this, but they’re just fancy computers made from a kit. Sometimes they even run windows XP. Oftentimes, the owner does not secure the USB ports or wires in the back. So we can hook up whatever we want. So what do we hook up? A mini computer called a Raspberry Pi.

00:01:26:47 – 00:01:29:57
Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo
I love raspberry pies!

00:01:30:01 – 00:01:54:42
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Negative, you morons. A Pi is in P I. It’s a computer, not food. This is what a Raspberry Pi looks like. It’s a mini computer about the size of a credit card. We connect this little computer to an ATM, and then this Pi can pretend it is the ATM to the cash drawer and then dispense money whenever we want.

00:01:54:46 – 00:02:09:27
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
This is really great because we will go in and make a large cash withdrawal, but it doesn’t actually come out of any of our bank accounts. When the ATM owner tallies his receipts, he will find large sums of money missing long after we are gone.

00:02:09:32 – 00:02:13:01
Dr. Keith Jones
That’s ruthless. How much did you make off of this?

00:02:13:06 – 00:02:22:54
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Over $112,000. Between August ‘23, and August of ’24. And that’s just what the government knows about.

00:02:22:58 – 00:02:28:28
Dr. Keith Jones
All right, well, how the hell do you connect a Raspberry Pi to an ATM and not get noticed?

00:02:28:33 – 00:02:39:51
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
You see my two henchmen over here? This is where one of my goons will block the view of the other one installing this contraption on the back of the ATM.

00:02:39:55 – 00:02:48:56
Dr. Keith Jones
Okay, but isn’t there surveillance video? Wouldn’t it be easy to be caught connecting this Raspberry Pi and making large cash withdrawals?

00:02:49:01 – 00:03:12:11
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Oh, yeah. We got caught. But it took them a year. You see that yellow Beetle behind you? We drove a memorable car just like that. So, of course, someone meddled and reported it to the police. Those bastards. The cops were on the lookout for our car, and eventually they found it parked at a shady motel in Lubbock, Texas.

00:03:12:16 – 00:03:15:51
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
See, we rented room 174.

00:03:15:55 – 00:03:22:41
Dr. Keith Jones
Nice cozy room. You rented this one room with one bed together?

00:03:22:46 – 00:03:23:57
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Yeah.

00:03:24:01 – 00:03:25:30
Abel Valdes Ugarte
You betcha.

00:03:25:35 – 00:03:30:20
Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo
Three dudes, one bed.

00:03:30:25 – 00:03:34:18
Dr. Keith Jones
Okay. What do you store here in this room?

00:03:34:22 – 00:03:55:52
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Lots of stuff. Wireless keyboards, cell phones, SIM cards. Multimeter tools. Soldering equipment. Gift cards. Receipts. Laptops. Raspberry Pis, fraudulent IDs, multiple memory cards and a magnetic card reader.

00:03:55:57 – 00:04:05:01
Dr. Keith Jones
Holy shit. All right, so I read you guys were doing whatever you do, counting your money or whatever, and the FBI busts in.

00:04:05:06 – 00:04:10:00
Grizzled FBI Agent
Hey, what’s going on in here?

00:04:10:04 – 00:04:19:43
Dr. Keith Jones
These guys were just counting all their loot from ATM jackpotting. They have a bunch of computer equipment to jackpot ATMs right there on their bed.

00:04:19:48 – 00:04:30:34
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Come on. Keith. I thought we were tight. There could be many other reasons three dudes are sitting around a motel room with all this questionable stuff.

00:04:30:39 – 00:04:41:20
Grizzled FBI Agent
Looks like we caught them with all the tools needed for ATM jackpotting. Well, this is pretty cut and dry. These morons kept everything we needed to convict them in.

00:04:41:20 – 00:04:44:42
Grizzled FBI Agent
Their tiny little love nest.

00:04:44:47 – 00:04:46:52
Abel Valdes Ugarte
It’s not a love nest.

00:04:46:57 – 00:04:49:19
Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo
Come on. It kind of is.

00:04:49:24 – 00:04:55:18
Dr. Keith Jones
Well, you heard the FBI. Off to jail now.

00:04:55:22 – 00:05:03:07
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
With a memorable car and all the evidence in our hotel room. It didn’t take the FBI long to figure out it was us.

00:05:03:12 – 00:05:14:26
Dr. Keith Jones
I read in the court documentation that they charged you with 14 counts. And they ranged from using an unauthorized access device to bank theft to computer fraud.

00:05:14:31 – 00:05:39:36
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Yeah, we were screwed. They threw the book at us. At this point, my only argument was to throw out the evidence the FBI seized from our shady motel room. So I put on my lawyer hat and drafted the three of us up a quote unquote motion to suppress illegally seized evidence. And I use air quotes here, which is pretty awkward because I don’t have hands.

00:05:39:41 – 00:05:52:16
Dr. Keith Jones
I’ve read a ton of court documents in my life, and I don’t think that is an actual real name for a motion. But I’ll go with it. I was also not expecting a handwritten motion, but here we are.

00:05:52:21 – 00:06:15:24
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
What do you want for me? I wrote this motion on behalf of all three of us with a nub of a pencil, while I was trying not to be sold to the biggest man needing a boyfriend. My main argument in this motion is that we were not read our Miranda warnings, and that two of us needed an interpreter, but we were never provided one.

00:06:15:28 – 00:06:19:28
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
So I want all that shit thrown out.

00:06:19:33 – 00:06:23:40
Dr. Keith Jones
I got to be pretty honest. That sounds like a pretty horrible legal argument.

00:06:23:45 – 00:06:28:18
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Yeah, I know it was a flimsy argument. And the judge said.

00:06:28:22 – 00:06:38:39
Judge
Is this a joke? Why are you handwriting goddamn legal motions when you have a court appointed lawyer, little man? Motion denied.

00:06:38:43 – 00:06:53:42
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
My lawyer did not refile this motion. That bastard. So at this point, our best bet was to plead guilty. But we didn’t plead guilty to everything, though. We plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank theft.

00:06:53:47 – 00:06:57:38
Dr. Keith Jones
That sounds like some prison time, no?

00:06:57:43 – 00:07:40:41
Judge
Ugarte, you get six months. Tamayo, you get 16 months. Ruiz, you get the most at 36 months. And, Ruiz, this sentence is to be served consecutively to other criminal sentences that we see on your record here. And perhaps my most perplexing move to keep you all on your toes, I will sentence restitution for Ruiz and Tamayo only at $112,000, the amount you made in your crimes. Ugarte, you have no restitution. Live it up.

00:07:40:46 – 00:07:50:49
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
So here we are in prison, serving our sentences. And some of us owing restitution once we are out.

00:07:50:54 – 00:08:05:15
Dr. Keith Jones
Damn, what a story. Listener, if you enjoyed this story, please like and subscribe. I hope to see you back on my next episode, which I guarantee will be another crazy electronic crime. Thanks and bye.

00:08:05:20 – 00:08:07:00
Carlos Jordano Herrera Ruiz
Bye.

00:08:07:04 – 00:08:09:22
Yordanis Sanchez Tamayo
Raspberry pi.

00:08:09:27 – 00:08:12:18
Abel Valdes Ugarte
Come on Tamayo. See you later, listener.