- December 17, 2025
Identity theft and phony credit were used in local crimes.
Scott Edwards, owner of Mower Depot, 290 Wilmette Ave., knew something wasn’t right when the four men walked in on Dec. 2.
With their designer clothes, expensive watches and gold chains, they did not look like guys who had been mowing lawns.
Also, the day before, Edwards had received a phone call from South Daytona Tractor and Mower, warning him that four Hispanic men came in and applied for credit. One of the names was flagged by the credit company as being used in three previous credit frauds.
Sure enough, the men asked for a credit application. They went to their car and truck outside to fill it out.
By coincidence, a representative from Stihl Inc., who had been at South Daytona Tractor when the first attempt was made, was in the store working on an equipment display. Edwards asked him if that was the same four men, and he said yes.
Edwards was surprised they would try the same thing the very next day after being rejected for credit.
“I guess they got greedy,” he said.
He said he could see the four getting away with the fraud at a large store, but not his, because they know their customers.
Edwards called a detective he knows at the Ormond Beach Police Department and gave him the license numbers of the suspects’ truck and car. He said he was impressed by what happened next.
Two motorcycle officers, several squad cars and a couple of unmarked cars swarmed into the lot.
“I didn’t expect all that,” he said. “I was impressed. They did a great job. They deserve a feather in their cap.”
The suspect in the car tried to back out but he was blocked by police cars.
The police got the other men out of the truck and one of them tried to drop IDs down a storm drain.
The officers handcuffed the men and found stacks of IDs with different names in their possession.
The action was out of sight for employees in the store, because the men parked on the side. Edwards thinks they wanted to be away from the security cameras.
The IDs had identities stolen from people in Florida, but had the suspects’ photos. Ormond Beach Police Cpl. Mike Pavelka said the four had an accomplice in Miami who worked at the Department of Motor Vehicles who would create the IDs for them. There were no IDs of Volusia County citizens.
One of the suspects cooperated with the investigators, according to the arrest report. He said they drove up from Miami, bought items after receiving credit on phony IDs, and planned to sell the items back in Miami. He told police they could find stolen merchandise at a motel in Daytona Beach in a U-Haul truck.
One suspect said they had obtained IDs through the Russian mafia.
“I don’t know how much credence we’re going to give that,” Pavelka said.
Ormond Beach police displayed the stolen items on Dec. 3 at headquarters. There were generators, watches, phones, cigarettes, power tools and refrigerators.
The fraud had been used successfully at Lowe’s Home Improvement in Ormond Beach, Home Depot in Daytona Beach and other stores in Central Florida.
All of the suspects are from Cuba and Pavelka said the U.S. Immigration Service is involved in the investigation. He said they have determined the group was part of a large, statewide organization.
Arrested were Jorge Tejeda, Angel Rodriguez, an unknown “John Doe,” and Alexis Zaldivar. They are in jail with no bond, charged with fraud and possession of stolen property.
You can’t be too careful
Ormond Beach Police Public Information Officer Keith Walker emphasized the need for people to shred all paper with account information.
Pavelka said to be sure and go through all mail, to make sure you’re not getting a bill for a credit card that was taken out in your name. He said to check statements for purchases that you didn’t make. You can check your credit history if suspicious.
Pavelka also said some information used for ID thefts is obtained through social media and by stealing from mail boxes.
He said companies in Europe have started using computer chips in credit cards, and fraud has gone down dramatically.
“We’re just a little late getting on that bandwagon,” he said.
