Man Charged With Fraud That Cost Migrants $4,000

An Oceanside man was charged Wednesday with felony grand theft after he allegedly persuaded a small group of migrant workers to turn over nearly $4,000 to him in exchange for lucrative airline jobs that did not exist.

Four felony counts were filed against Jesus Garcia Arroya, 37, who authorities said convinced a group of migrants they would be hired for well-paying maintenance and welding positions at USAir if they paid him in cash for union dues and training fees.

“I’ve never heard of anything exactly like this,” said district attorney’s spokeswoman Linda Miller, adding that migrants are more typically robbed of cash rather than made the victims of con artists.

Authorities believe that, last December and January, Arroya met at least six North County migrants through mutual acquaintances, saying he was employed by USAir and would receive a bonus for signing up new workers.

Arroya allegedly collected nearly $4,000 in phony union dues and advance payments for job training courses.

The purported scheme began unraveling when two of the migrants appeared March 5 at USAir’s offices in San Diego and “stated they were reporting for work,” Miller said.

She said the migrants showed the airline supervisors what the migrants thought were employee cards, but what were actually plastic-covered baggage tags made to look like official identification.

USAir officials contacted the district attorney’s office, which began an investigation that led to Arroya’s arrest in Oceanside on Monday. He was taken into custody without incident by a district attorney’s investigator, and was being held Wednesday in County Jail at Vista in lieu of $20,000 bail.

Miller said Arroya is presumed to be in this country legally, as are his alleged victims.

“Con men think migrants won’t come forward to the authorities,” she said. “They think they can get away with it. It’s shameful.”

She said the district attorney’s office is investigating whether other migrants might have been victimized.