Couple Charged With Acts Of Fraud

By David Sommer, Tampa Tribune, Fla.

Mar. 29–TRILBY — A couple was charged with crimes against illegal aliens Friday after two immigrants complained that their car had been stolen, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office reported.

Illegal immigrants Alicia Gonzalez and Horacio Candido told deputies the couple had driven them to New Mexico to take driver’s license tests.

Even though they flunked the tests, the couple demanded that Gonzalez and Candido pay them $500 each and turn over their car to the couple, arrest reports state.

The couple, Eugenio Montanez Riviera, 38, and Star Ann Riviera, 28, were located at a home on Owensboro Road in Trilby.

There, they attempted to explain that they had powers of attorney over Gonzalez and Candido and produced a forged document stating the same, the reports state.

The Rivieras then allowed deputies to search the home, the reports state. Numerous forged documents and checkbooks and fake identity cards in various individuals’ names were found during the search, reports state.

Star Ann Riviera remained at the Land O’ Lakes Jail on Saturday with bail set at $15,000 on charges of running a scheme to defraud, criminal use of personal information, and criminal use of personal identification, according to the sheriff’s Web site.

Eugenio Riviera remained at the jail Saturday with bail set at $15,000 on the same three charges, according to the Web site.

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