VENEZUELAN NATIONAL PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT BANK THEFT

Gulfport, MS - A Venezuelan national pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to steal funds from multiple Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) in Jackson County, Mississippi.

According to records and information presented to the Court, Favian David Aparicio-Linares, 19, was arrested in Jackson County, Mississippi on November 9, 2025, after concerned citizens alerted the Pascagoula Police to two suspicious individuals near a Bank on Market Street in Pascagoula. When officers arrived on scene, Aparicio-Linares and the other individual fled. But Aparico-Linares was apprehended. In addition to apprehending Aparicio-Linares, officers also recovered multiple electronic devices from the vehicle in which Aparicio-Linares and the other suspect fled.

Examinations of these devices demonstrated that Aparicio-Linares and the other suspect traveled from out of state to Mississippi to steal funds from ATMs. Law enforcement agents were also able to determine that Aparicio-Linares and the other suspect were going to use malware to force the ATMs to dispense he funds contained within each machine.

The Defendant will be sentenced on April 28, 2026. He faces a maximum of 5 years imprisonment.

U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Eikhoff of the FBI Jackson Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI, with the assistance of the Pascagoula Police Department, are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Buckner is prosecuting the case.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by the Mississippi Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) as part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline). HSTFs, which were established by President Trump in Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, are joint operations led by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide federal initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).