Soldiers’ CU Accounts Drained While Fighting in Iraq

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A former U.S. Marine was charged with identity theft and fraud for allegedly draining the accounts at Pacific Marine CU of 15 Marines stationed in Iraq.
 
Authorities said 24-year-old Edgar Alejandro Hermosillo, who was a Marine from 2001 to 2005, accessed government computers at Camp Pendleton during his service, then used credit union accounts and other personal identification of the soldiers to transfer more than $39,000 from their accounts after he was discharged.
 
Hermosillo allegedly impersonated the soldiers while calling the credit union and convinced them to wire funds from the soldiers’ accounts to Western Union locations in Nevada, Texas and New Mexico.
 
“Mr. Hermosillo’s alleged crimes are especially disturbing because of the fact that his victims were active duty Marines serving in a war zone,” said Gregory Brower, assistant U.S. Attorney in Las Vegas, where the case is being prosecuted.
 
The ex-Marine, now living in El Paso, is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of wire fraud and two counts of identity theft.