Man Sentenced To 30 Years For Carjacking And Murder

Press Release

US Attorney's Office - San Juan

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Kenneth Ubiles-Rosario was sentenced to 365
months in prison for a carjacking that resulted in death, announced United
States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vé-
lez. Ubiles-Rosario pleaded guilty on January 13, 2015 before U.S. Magis-
trate Judge Bruce McGiverin.

The indictment, filed on November 6, 2013, charged Ubiles-Rosario and a
coconspirator with carjacking and possession of a firearm during the commi-
ssion of a crime of violence. According to the statement of facts in the plea
agreement, defendant Ubiles Rosario and his co-defendant met on October
21, 2010 and agreed to commit a robbery. The next day they intercepted the
victim, Luis Anibal Torres-González, a local businessman, as he drove along
his customary route. The defendants forced the victim to a stop and Ubiles
exited his own car and forced the victim at gunpoint into the passenger seat.
Ubiles and his co-defendant took the victim to a secluded spot by the side of
a cliff near the Lago Dos Bocas in Arecibo, PR and forced the victim out of
the car at gunpoint. Ubiles shot the victim once in the back of the head with
a revolver and left the victim at the bottom of a cliff. Afterwards the defend-
ants abandoned the victim’s car in an urbanization in Arecibo.

The case was investigated by FBI and the Puerto Rico Police Department
and was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Cannon.

10 Year Sentence For Doctor Who Defrauded AFLAC

Press Release

US Attorney's Office - San Juan

SAN JUAN, P.R. – On Monday, March 21, 2016, the Hon. Gustavo
Gelpí sentenced Aníbal Pagan-Romero, a general practitioner with a
clinic in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, to a term of imprisonment of 120
months and a term of supervised release of five (5) years in the crimi-
nal case for mail fraud prosecuted against Pagan-Romero in federal
court. Pagan-Romero was also ordered to pay $2,056,503.32 in resti-
tution to the American Life Assurance Company (“AFLAC”) of Co-
lumbus, Georgia. This sentence is the result of a lengthy investigation
undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigations into multiple insu-
rance fraud schemes in the Western region of Puerto Rico which resul-
ted in the arrest and prosecution of hundreds of individuals.

On October 5, 2015, Aníbal Pagan-Romero had been found guilty by
a jury of his peers on all counts of an 82 count indictment charging 21
conspiracies and 61 individual counts of mail fraud.   Pagan-Romero
was charged with 35 patients for orchestrating a large-scale fraudulent
scheme where he fraudulently signed AFLAC accidental insurance claim
forms without examining the patients. The evidence presented at trial sho-
wed that Pagan-Romero caused a loss to AFLAC in excess of $6,000,000.
The 35 patients who were charged alongside Pagan-Romero pled guilty to
the charges prior to the trial.

The three-week trial before the Hon. Gustavo Gelpi included the testimo-
ny of three of the doctor’s employees and four patients who indicated that
Pagan-Romero personally instructed them to submit the documents for his
signature without examination. The evidence also showed that the scheme
had grown so large and lucrative that Pagan-Romero had to hire two emplo-
yees to do data entry full time in order to generate the thousands of AFLAC
claim forms submitted for reimbursement under his signature.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dennise N.
Longo and Julia Díaz-Rex.

Woman Sentenced To Prison For Defrauding The IRS

Press Release

US Attorney's Office - San Juan

SAN JUAN, P.R. – Today, March 16, 2016, defendant Mariely
Malavet-Rivera was sentenced by United States District Court
Judge Francisco A. Besosa to serve a term of imprisonment of
34 months and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of
$103,632.10 for defrauding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States.

Malavet-Rivera pled guilty on October 2, 2015, to twenty-four
counts of wire fraud, one count of theft of public money, and one
count of aggravated identity theft. These charges stemmed from a
scheme utilized by Malavet-Rivera from 2010 until 2013 to submit
false Federal tax returns seeking the additional child tax credit (AC
TC) in order to obtain fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS via check
and direct deposit. Personal identification information including in-
dividuals’ names, dates of birth, and social security numbers were
utilized without the knowledge or consent of the individual in order
to request and obtain the fraudulent tax refunds.

The false Federal tax returns contained defendant’s own postal address
and bank account information so that the fraudulent refunds would be
deposited via wire transfer to bank accounts Malavet-Rivera controlled
and the physical checks would be mailed to her postal address. The de-
fendant then used a fraudulent driver’s license or voter registration iden-
tification to cash the fraudulent refund checks through an intermediary
company.

The fraudulent tax refund scheme had a total value of approximately
$227,653.22.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth A.
Erbe and investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal In-
vestigation (IRS-CI).

Puerto Rico News Digest For March 11, 2015

PLANE RECOVERED FROM CONDADO LAGOON

As reported by Noticel, a Piper PA-23 aircraft that crashed into
Condado Lagoon in San Juan on Monday afternoon has been re-
covered.   Pilot Rafael Pesquera, age 49, and co-pilot Ramón
Garida, also 49, were not seriously injured. Authorities dragged
the fallen aircraft to the shore of the lagoon yesterday, and it will
be taken to Isla Grande airport once fuel and the wings are remo-
ved. The exact cause of the accident is unknown, but apparently
the plane's engines stopped functioning not long after takeoff
from Isla Grande.

SOME INMATES TO LOSE VOTING RIGHTS

As reported today by El Vocero, the Chamber of Representatives
passed a bill last night that would strip prison inmates convicted
of major offenses of the right to vote in Puerto Rican elections.
Representative Carlos Vargas was behind the measure, and was
ableto get the votes to pass it as part of a deal in which he would
vote for the proposed oil tax increase, or "crudita". It is unknown
whether Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla will sign the bill.

LOWERING IVA ON SOME ITEMS CONSIDERED

From The San Juan Daily Star:

After meeting for several hours with House leaders, Gov. Alejandro
García Padilla is now accepting the idea of amending Tax Reform to
possibly introduce reduced rates of the value-added tax to certain
products and services and obtain needed votes in the House to pass
the bill. House Speaker Jaime Perelló and Majority Leader Charlie
Hernández met with the governor hours before he was slated to go
to the airwaves in support of his tax reform.

PR JOINS DIET SUPPLEMENT PROBE 

From The Chicago Tribune:

Dietary supplements are facing more scrutiny from U.S. regulators
as two states and Puerto Rico joined New York in a probe of the
$33 billion industry after testing showed some products didn't
appear to contain key ingredients advertised. Attorneys general in
Connecticut and Indiana and the Puerto Rico Department of Consumer
Affairs will investigate industry business practices and whether
claims of authenticity and purity are valid, Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman said Tuesday in a statement.

CLARO EXTENDS BROADBAND IN YAUCO

From News Is My Business:

Telecommunications company Claro announced Monday it has extended
broadband services to eight sectors in the town of Yauco, where a
combined 965 families will have access to the benefits associated
with high-speed Internet. The sectors of Algarrobo, Caimito,
Collores, Rancheras, Cotuy, Diego Hernández, Aguas Blancas, Naranjo
and Carrizales in Yauco join the initiative being bankrolled by the
Federal Communications Commission to boost rich broadband across
regions.