Victims of alleged immigration scam speak out

LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Betrayed, angry, helpless: Those are some of the words used by victims of an alleged immigration scam in Luzerne County.

Police are still searching for two crooks who swindled tens of thousands of dollars. One of them, Daniel Martinez, posed as an immigration lawyer.

Victims 28/22 News spoke with said they trusted Daniel Martinez to handle immigration matters, so they gave him all of their savings. Now they are financially devastated and really don't know what to do next.

“She provided him with $2,500 to do consulting. He didn’t do anything for her,” immigration scam victim Marcia Garcia said through an interpreter.

Speaking through an interpreter, Garcia said she paid Daniel Martinez to help her with her immigration issues and got nothing in return.

“She feels very sad and very disappointed,” Garcia said.

The I-Team met with Garcia and other scam victims at the offices of United Blend PA, a nonprofit group that helps members of the Latino community who have recently moved to northeastern Pennsylvania .

Police say Martinez and Cruz Perez worked together to defraud at least 11 victims out of nearly $20,000.

Martinez had done legal work for United Blend PA in the past and even showed them fake attorney credentials, so they trusted him and referred clients to him. Elizabeth Perez, director of United Blend PA, says she feels guilty.

“I feel so bad, so frustrated because this is not something you're supposed to do to all these people, well, they wanted to be here in the United States so much,” Perez said.

Giovanni Rivero loses $1,200 and has nothing to show for it.

“Right now he feels very upset because someone else lent him this. they have a court date on the 18th, they don’t have a lawyer to go with them… they don’t have a job… they’re day to day and they don’t know what to do,” Rivero said.

The victims say Martinez and Cruz sent threatening text messages.

“This message, try to intimidate Mr. Giovanni. I'm talking about myself because I introduced this into the system. I don’t even want to say it,” Perez added.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Martinez and Cruz who, according to 28/22 News, are married. Luzerne County detectives tell 28/22 News they likely fled the state and possibly the country.

We'll stay there with more in the days to come.