Santo Domingo.- Accepting the request of the
Public Ministry, the Supreme Court of Justice kept in prison four Dominicans arrested in the middle of Operation Discovery 3.0 and who voluntarily accepted their extradition to the United States, where they face charges for the crimes committed as part of a structure that defrauded elderly people.
Oscar Manuel Castaños García (Oscar Castaños, Oscar García, Oscar Castaño García or Castaño), Joel José Cruz Rodríguez (Paflow or Pa Flow, Joel Cruz Rodríguez or Joel Cruz Hermano), Joel Francisco Mathilda León and Edward José Puello (Edward Puello) accepted before the court their extradition to the United States in Tuesday’s hearing.
The Supreme Court of Justice will also hear the extradition of Gerardo Heriberto Núñez Núñez (José Núñez Núñez), who was imposed as a coercive measure the fulfillment of preventive prison in the Correction and Rehabilitation Center (CCR) Rafey Hombres, of Santiago, and is waiting for the date to be set to hear the merits of the process.
The group is wanted by the US justice system for committing various crimes related to the so-called “Grandparent Scam.” The structure used digital platforms to commit computer fraud, theft of personal data, identity theft, and money laundering to the detriment of elderly people.
In the hearing, the Public Ministry was represented by Deputy Attorney Osvaldo Bonilla, director of International Legal Cooperation, Extraditions and Human Rights, and prosecutor Elvira Rodríguez.
Judges Francisco Jerez, Fran Soto, and Francisco Ortega, in a hearing held on the morning of this Tuesday, decided to keep the four defendants in prison by the Public Ministry until the administrative extradition process is completed.
The five Dominicans are held in the Rafey-Hombres Correction and Rehabilitation centers of Santiago and San Felipe de Puerto Plata after being arrested in the midst of Operation Discovery 3.0, carried out by the Dominican Public Ministry and US authorities, where six other men were also arrested, also accused of committing computer fraud, theft of personal data, identity theft and money laundering supported by a criminal structure.
Operation Discovery 3.0, launched by the General Prosecution Directorate of the Public Ministry, along with the Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prosecutor’s Office and the Santiago Prosecutor’s Office, was supported by the Special Division of International Organized Crime Investigation (Deicroi) of the National Police.
In addition, with the international cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an agency that simultaneously executed raids in the United States, in California, New York, Florida, Maryland, and Missouri.
In the jurisdiction of Santiago, Jesús Manuel Castaños Colón is also being prosecuted,
Adderly Antonio Polanco Báez, Bernardo Taveras Vélez, José Ramón López Tavarez, Juan Luis Naranjo Gómez and Luis Eduardo Méndez Ureña, who were also arrested during Operation Discovery 3.0.
The Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services of that province last Friday postponed until this Wednesday, August 20, the hearing for the knowledge of the coercion measure formulated by the Public Ministry against those six defendants, for whom it requests the imposition of 18 months of preventive prison and that the complex processing process be declared.
