Man accused of installing skimming devices at Newark grocery store pleads not guilty

A California man pleaded not guilty to multiple criminal charges after prosecutors accused him of installing skimming devices at a Newark grocery store to illegally steal debit or credit card information.

Marco Ernesto, 23, of La Harra, California, pleaded not guilty to one count of engaging in a pattern of criminal activity and other charges in Licking County Common Pleas Court. He also faces three counts of possessing criminal tools and single counts of unauthorized use of property, telecommunications fraud and tampering with records.

Ernesto remains at the Licking County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond set last month.

Newark police arrested Ernesto and a male juvenile July 14 on suspicion of installing and trying to retrieve the skimming devices at Save-A-Lot grocery store in Newark. Police allege they found the devices after the suspects tried to get rid of them before a traffic stop.

The juvenile, reportedly from Romania, also faces charges and remained in jail as of Thursday morning, a Newark police spokesperson said.

In a criminal complaint, detectives allege a bag containing two skimming devices was thrown out of a vehicle Ernesto was driving on July 14. The juvenile, identified as the vehicle’s passenger and as “AV” in the complaint, claimed Ernesto threw the bag, the complaint states.

Detectives say they found the vehicle using traffic cameras after spotting the license plate using surveillance footage. They claim additional footage showed Ernesto and the juvenile distracting a Save-A-Lot employee while one of them installed the device, according to the complaint.

Ernesto denied being at the Save-A-Lot on July 9, when officers responded to a report of a skimmer device being placed onto a cash register, the complaint states. He also denied being the person spotted in surveillance footage, detectives say, before later claiming that a man from Columbus gave him the devices and paid him $500 to install them.

The complaint also states that detectives discovered evidence of Ernesto and the juvenile placing skimming devices in Kentucky and other locations in Ohio.

Ernesto is next scheduled to appear in court Sept. 4 for a pretrial conference.

Advocate reporter Josué Perez can be reached at jhperez@newarkadvocate.com .

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Man accused of installing skimming devices at Newark grocery store pleads not guilty