A man posing as an attorney stole more than $36,000 from clients after he promised to help with their immigration status, Gwinnett County police said.
Police are trying to identify the man whose real name may be Eduardo Bueno Cabrera, spokesman Cpl. Deon Washington said. Police said he may be using the alias Juan Manuel Pineda Cruz.
According to police, Cabrera stole money from clients on three occasions.
In the first incident, reported Dec. 13, the client paid him $6,000 to assist with bringing his family to the United States legally, but the victim said he never heard from Cabrera after he paid him, police said.
In a Jan. 30 incident, police said two victims paid Cabrera $20,000 after he told them he could assist 18 foreign workers from Latin America with gaining legal status. After several months had passed and no workers had arrived, the victims realized they had been scammed, police said.
In a third incident, Cabrera allegedly told another victim he could fix his illegal immigration status and bring his family to the U.S. from Mexico. The victim paid Cabrera $10,000, and as with the previous cases, never heard from him, police said.
Washington said Cabrera identified himself as an immigration lawyer in each case and met the victims at the Mozart Bakery on the 1600 block of Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth. Gwinnett police also said the man had a vendor stand set up at the Pendergrass Flea Market on the 5600 block of U.S. 129 in Pendergrass.
“He was offering legal services to the immigrant population,” Washington said.
Washington said there could be other victims and wants them to come forward, regardless of immigration status.
“Our objective is to stop this suspect from continuing to victimize and exploit individuals seeking legal status in this country,” Detective Nermin Cultarevic said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Gwinnett police at 770-513-5300. Tipsters can also remain anonymous, and be eligible for rewards of up to $2,000, by contacting Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477, texting information to 274637 or visiting crimestoppersatlanta.org.
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