MIAMI – Police arrested a pair of cruise passengers on six felony charges after they said federal agents found methamphetamines and a trove of counterfeit bank cards and identification documents upon their return to Miami.
Miami-Dade police arrested Jaclyn Abaya, 46, and Enrico Ronquillo, 36, both of Las Vegas, after the MSC Magnifica docked at PortMiami Friday.
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Arrest reports state that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained the pair inside their cabin after receiving word that Abaya had an outstanding fugitive warrant from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Authorities said an initial search of the cabin turned up two baggies of meth and a credit card skimmer.
Subsequent searches of their bags revealed a certified Nevada birth certificate with information “altered and mutilated,” along with several fictitious birth certificates that were laminated and sealed, police said.
Neither suspect was born in Nevada, the arrest report states: Abaya was born in Guam and Ronquillo was born in and is a citizen of the Philippines.
A search of Abaya’s wallet turned up her personal Nevada driver’s license, along with several fake Nevada and Florida licenses, police said.
Authorities said they also found a book with bank card numbers written inside as well as several bank and credit cards with information not belonging to either suspect. They said they also found laminated paper used in the manufacture of fraudulent documents.
Police said both suspects made admissions to detectives, which were redacted from their arrest reports.
Arrest reports state that they used seven different bank cards to pay for shipboard transactions, which totaled $12,898.
The pair’s “ongoing course of conduct was deliberate in creating a systematic scheme to defraud others of their finances and personal information,” police concluded.
Abaya and Ronquillo remained held in Miami-Dade jails on charges of organized scheme to defraud, possession of a skimming device, trafficking in counterfeit credit cards, possession of equipment to create counterfeit driver’s licenses, fraudulent use of personal identification and possession of stolen or fictitious driver’s licenses.
As of late Monday morning, Abaya was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $25,000 bond and an out-of-state fugitive warrant, while Ronquillo was being held in the Metro West Detention Center on a $40,000 bond.