Venezuelan Nationals Charged with Stealing More Than $500K in ATM “Jackpotting” Scheme

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and P.J. O'Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that the following four individuals have been charged with federal offenses related to the theft of more than $500,000 in an ATM "jackpotting" scheme:

EUCLIDES MORENO ITANARE, 28, of Raleigh, North Carolina
WILLIAN RICARDO FLORES, 49, of the Bronx, New York
ALBERTO JOSE FREITES ARVILLA, 41, of Queens, New York
LUIS JOSE FREITES ARVILLA, 38, of Lynn, Massachusetts

The four defendants are citizens of Venezuela.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, in August 2025, Itanare, Flores, Alberto Freites Arvilla, Luis Freites Arvilla, and others conspired to steal cash from at least nine ATM's in Connecticut through what is known as a "jackpotting" scheme. Jackpotting often involves using specialized hardware and malware that forces an ATM to dispense its stored cash.

It is alleged that the defendants accessed ATMs in Milford and Ansonia, and at I-95 rest stops in Fairfield, Branford, Madison, and Darien. For each of the thefts, the pattern of behavior was similar. Surveillance video shows that while Luis Freites Arvilla acted as a lookout, Alberto Freites Arvilla opened the hood of the ATM, accessed the internal components of the ATM, and then left the area. Over the course of several hours, Luis Freites Arvilla, Itanare, and Flores then took turns withdrawing cash from the ATM. The defendants sometimes changed clothes in an attempt to avoid suspicion when approaching the same ATM multiple times.

It is alleged that the defendants stole $529,220 from eight ATMs between August 8 and August 18, 2025. They were prevented from stealing any money from the ATM in Ansonia due to a software patch that protected the ATM against this type of theft.

The four defendants were arrested on June 25, 2026, on federal criminal complaints charging each with interstate transportation of stolen property, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, and with conspiracy, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. They are currently detained.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan stressed that a criminal complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Connecticut State Police, the Raleigh (N.C.) Police Department, and the New York City Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel George.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan thanked the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of North Carolina for its assistance.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement toward identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

HSTF New Haven comprises agents and officers from the FBI, DEA, HSI, ATF, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, U.S. Department of Labor, and Connecticut State Police, with prosecutions led by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.