A lawyer representing a man accused of using stolen credit card numbers to make fraudulent purchases in the Texarkana area is asking a federal judge to order a mental evaluation of the defendant.
Roberto Hernandez appeared in court Monday for a scheduled plea hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in Texarkana's downtown federal building. But statements Hernandez made in court led Craven to adjourn the hearing without accepting Hernandez's plea of guilty.
During his appearance with Texarkana lawyers Al Smith and Danny Cook, Hernandez stated on the record that he believes he is incompetent to enter a guilty plea.
"The defendant's statements were made because of his belief that jail medical staff had told him that he was incompetent," according to a motion for a mental evaluation Smith filed Wednesday.
"Counsel has had numerous meetings with the defendant and has noticed that on several occasions the defendant made reference to his mental health and that he was depressed," the motion states. "Additionally, at the conclusion of the proceedings held June 27, counsel for the defendant were informed by jail staff that defendant has been placed on suicide watch for approximately a week."
Smith's motion expresses concern that Hernandez may not be able to understand the consequences of the court proceedings or to assist his lawyers properly in his defense, both of which are required for a defendant to be deemed fit to proceed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Locker, who is handling the prosecution, is not opposed to Smith's request.
Shortly before Hernandez's hearing Monday, his co-defendant, Carlos Suyi Rodriguez, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess more than 15 unauthorized access devices. A factual basis filed Monday in Rodriguez's case describes the criminal conduct alleged in an indictment charging the men in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
Rodriguez admitted he and Hernandez flew from Miami to Texas in September, according to a factual basis statement filed Monday in Rodriguez's case used to create the following account.
Rodriguez's plea basis states he and Hernandez rented a car and drove to Texarkana from a Dallas airport. With them, the men brought gift cards that had been reprogrammed with stolen credit card numbers. The men used the reconfigured gift cards at stores in the Texarkana area to buy more gift cards.
"We used other gift cards programmed with other account information because gift cards do not have a name imprinted like a credit card, so we were less likely to raise suspicion if found to be in possession of gift cards than if we had credit cards with other people's names on them," the factual basis states.
The men were arrested Sept. 24 after using the stolen credit card numbers to buy gift cards at Wal-Mart in the Wake Village area. Inside the rental car, officers discovered a bevy of reprogrammed gift cards and newly purchased gift cards.
"Between those cards recovered from our persons and our vehicle, Hernandez and I had more than 30 gift cards or other access devices that were either (1) counterfeit because they contained the credit or debit information of someone we did not have authority from or (2) were unauthorized because they were gift cards purchased with funds belonging to others who had not given us permission to use those funds," the factual basis states.
Rodriguez's plea basis states that the men intended to sell the new gift cards for less than their actual face value upon returning to Miami and split the ill-gotten proceeds between them. Locker said Rodriguez's plea bargain includes a 15-month federal prison sentence and about $8,000 in restitution.
Rodriguez is free on an unsecured appearance bond, but Hernandez has been in jail since the men's September arrests. If the motion for a mental evaluation is granted, it could be several months before a determination regarding his competency is made.
Conspiracy to possess unauthorized access devices is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.