Huntington Beach man sought in credit card skimming case surrenders to FBI

A Huntington Beach man suspected of being part of a fraud ring that used credit card information stolen from customers at restaurants to create counterfeit cards is in custody, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Lloyd Luis Leyh, 43, surrendered at the FBI office in Orange Thursday night, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

Leyh, who had been sought by police and FBI agents since May 23, is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with the credit card skimming operation, which authorities suspect began in Huntington Beach.

Leyh was the only defendant who eluded capture following a series of early morning raids last month in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Twelve people were arrested during the raids, which occurred in La Mirada, Hesperia, Whittier and Norwalk.

The sweep targeted members of the La Mirada Punks gang and the Norwalk-based gang Carmelas.

One of those arrested, Russell Jay “Big Dog” Ogden, 43, of La Mirada is suspected of being the operation’s mastermind, federal authorities said.

An indictment filed April 18 in Los Angeles alleges that the defendants devised and executed a credit card skimming scheme that operated between October 2013 and July 2015 in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Skimmers — small devices that can scan and store data from the magnetic strips on the back of debit and credit cards — allegedly were installed in area restaurants at the behest of the group’s ringleaders, according to the indictment.

It isn’t clear which restaurants had the skimming devices.

Authorities allege that the defendants would encode data from the skimming devices onto gift cards that were used to purchase items at businesses such as Apple, Nordstrom, Toys“R”Us, Jack’s Surfboards, Louis Vuitton, Bloomingdale’s and Rip Curl.

The items were kept, resold or returned for credit, according to the indictment.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN