News
Motion to Consolidate
Published
6 months agoon
By
Ron Richter
A motion hearing was held Tuesday in Fourth Judicial Court in Sheridan for two Bronx, New York men charged with multiple felonies. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has the details.
On April 23, 2024, a manager with Verizon in Sheridan contacted dispatch with the Sheridan Police Department to report a man was in the Verizon store at 1875 Coffeen Avenue purchasing cellular phones with fraudulent credit cards. When an officer with the SPD arrived on scene, Rangel Diaz fled the scene in a car driven by co-defendant Yoharlin Mercedes-Jimenez. The vehicle was located by law enforcement on Interstate 90 shortly after the incident and Diaz and Mercedes-Jimenez were placed under arrest for a number of alleged crimes involving theft and identity theft.
A hearing was held in District Court Tuesday to address the State’s motion to consolidate the cases of both defendants into one trial. District Court Judge Darci Phillips granted the motion to consolidate the cases and scheduled a four day jury trial to begin on Monday, October 7. A pretrial conference will be held September 5. According to court documents, Diaz allegedly used a stolen identity to purchase two iPhone 15 Pro Max cell phones at the Verizon store at 1415 North Main Street in Sheridan on April 23, and was attempting to do the same thing at the Verizon store 1875 Coffeen Avenue.
Diaz is also a suspect in a number of other cases in multiple states where he is suspected of using stolen identities or Verizon PIN numbers to purchase cellular phones. Diaz is charged with two counts of identity theft, one count of theft and one count of attempted theft. If convicted on all four counts, Diaz faces up to 40 years in prison and fines of up to $40,000. Mercedes-Jimenez is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit theft, one count of conspiracy to commit identity theft, one count of accessory before the fact, one count of accessory after the fact and reckless driving. If convicted on all counts, Mercedes-Jimenez faces over 43 years in prison and fines of up to $43,750.