Civil Dispute Leads Police to Major Fraud Case

On Wednesday, January 30, 2019 management from the San Marcos Hotel contacted the Chandler Police Department to report an individual who was refusing to leave past his checkout time.  When officers arrived they contacted 29-year-old Austin Holmberg in the hotel parking lot.  Austin was walking toward a rental car he claimed to be in control over, but not rented under his name.

Austin initially identified himself to the officer under the name Daniel Santiago Rendon and a date of birth to suggest he was 24-years-old.  During the investigation officers took an inventory of the rental car, a black Chevrolet Suburban with a California license plate.  Upon doing so officers located printing devices, laptop computers, and a ledger containing other peoples identities.  Inside the Suburban officers also discovered blank hotel card stock used for re-encoding credit cards and 19 different identifications with names other than Austin Holmberg, in various forms to include credit cards and state issued IDs.

Austin was placed under arrest for possession of the forged instruments.  During processing, Austin insisted his true name was Daniel Santiago Rendon.  When Daniel was fingerprinted and run through an identification system, the name Daniel Santiago Rendon appeared.  However, when investigators ran the fingerprint by a number designated to that particular print, the name Austin Holmberg appeared. Austin was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on one count of Fraudulent Schemes, one count of Forgery – Possession of a Forged Instrument, one count of Unlawful Possession of a Scanning Device, and one count of Forgery – Possession with Intent to Defraud.