New Jersey law enforcement authorities have unveiled a major recovery operation involving SpaceX’s Starlink terminals. In what has been described by SpaceX officials as the largest fraud recovery in the company’s history, investigators in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, managed to recover a portion of the stolen technology that was perpetrated using stolen credit cards.
The operation came to light following the arrest of Kelvin Rodriguez-Moya, a 35-year-old resident of Newark, New Jersey. Rodriguez-Moya was apprehended after a three-month investigation triggered by unusual shipment activities to a local residence. This house, as it turned out, was a pivotal piece in a broader network designed to store and distribute illegally obtained SpaceX Starlink terminals.
Through stolen credit card purchases, Rodriguez-Moya acquired a staggering total of 675 terminals, valued at approximately US$400,000, aiming to transport them across the state for further distribution, according to The Trentonian.
The Lawrence Township Police Department first became aware of suspicious shipments to the Roxboro Road address in December 2023. Surveillance efforts soon led to the interception of Rodriguez-Moya as he was loading the high-tech devices into a vehicle.
A subsequent traffic stop enabled the recovery of 223 of the stolen terminals.
SpaceX is grateful for the partial recovery of the stolen Starlink terminals, with Bennet Woo, the Director of Payment Risk and Fraud at the company saying it was their “largest fraud recovery to date by an order of magnitude.”
Rodriguez-Moya faces charges of second-degree receiving stolen property and trafficking stolen property. He is currently held at the Mercer County Corrections Center, awaiting further legal proceedings. This case has also drawn the attention of federal authorities, with the FBI being notified of the findings, signaling the potential for broader implications beyond the immediate recovery of stolen goods.
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