Cayman Becomes A Target For ATM Scams: Man Pleads Guilty To Using Video To Capture People’s ATM Pins Entered On ATM Keypads & Stealing Thousands Of Dollars

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By Alric Lindsay

Stefano Giusseppe Palomera appeared in the Summary Court on December 10, 2024, to face charges of theft of thousands of dollars, money laundering, disguising criminal property, and possession of an article for use to defraud by taking video footage of customers’ ATM pin codes on various ATM keypads. He pleaded guilty to all the charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced along with Alejandra Marivi Ramirez, who faced charges of money laundering and disguising criminal property.

Details of Palomera’s crimes

Palomera’s complex crimes were summarised as follows:

Date	Crime
Between April 12, 2024, and April 17, 2024	Theft of $3,000 fom Gloria Rodriguez.
Between April 9 and May 8, 2024 Crime:	Transferred criminal property, namely $4,031.29, from the Cayman Islands to Chile.
Between April 7 and 10, 2024	Converted criminal property, namely $3,000, by providing these funds to Leon Connolly to exchange with US dollars.
May 9, 2024	Possession of article be used to defraud, namely video footage capturing individuals entering their pin codes on ATM keypads.
April 15 to 16, 2024	Stole $1,500 from Christopher Allen Pope.
Between April 1 and May 4, 2024	Disguising criminal property, being $1,275 in bank notes, knowing or suspecting the said banknotes constituted a person’s benefit for criminal conduct
Between April 14 and 19, 2024	Theft of $1,500 from Christopher Johnson
Between April 14 and 19, 2024	Theft of $3,000 from Jeremy Sostar
Between April 11 and April 13, 2024	Theft of $1,500 from Corine Bush

Ramirez’s charges

Regarding Ramirez, DPP counsel Barber noted that Ramirez pleaded guilty to two money laundering charges and one money laundering charge was withdrawn.

DPP counsel Barber added that the charge of disguising criminal property would also be withdrawn against Ramirez.

Arguments by defence counsel

Defence counsel Greg Walcom welcomed the approach of DPP counsel Barber.

Walcom added that, in the case of Ramirez, any sentence handed down by the Summary Court may have already been served, given that she had been in custody for 8 months.