Mission scammer charged with third-degree felony

A Mission man was arrested Saturday afternoon and charged with a third-degree felony amid scamming residents over six months.

Jesus Fuentes Lopez III, 41, began his scamming spree in May 2023, where he impersonated an automotive employee and told the victim, Alma Cruz, that he could sell her a 2017 Chevrolet Impala from ‘JC Station.’

According to official documents, Cruz gave Lopez a $1,500 cash deposit for the vehicle on May 25, which she never received. After filing a complaint for theft, police revealed that Diana Montoya, owner of JC Station, said Lopez did not work there.

When Investigator Jonathan Gutierrez called Lopez on June 27, the scammer said the interaction with Cruz was “a misunderstanding” between the two. He never showed up to a questioning appointment two days later and stopped answering phone calls from the investigator.

Two months later, his scheme began again.

In August, a woman sought to get a divorce. An unnamed acquaintance recommended Lopez, under the alias of Alejandro Cantu, to Mission resident Yolanda Barajas Martinez.

He said he worked for Rene Flores, an attorney at law in Mission. Martinez, trusting her acquaintance, called Lopez, whom she knew as Cantu, to speak about starting the divorce process.

The two met at the Burger King off Conway and Griffin Parkway on three occasions and once at a pharmacy parking lot to provide payment. She paid $6,300 in total.

For Martinez, what seemed like a simple meeting of service was a ruse by Lopez, a.k.a. Cantu, as he was neither employed by nor knew Flores. He claimed to be a licensed attorney, stating it was why Flores “relies on him.”

After Martinez called the Flores law office and found no evidence of Alejandro Cantu working there, she called Lopez, who instead promised that he could get her a better attorney based in Kingsville, TX.

However, despite agreeing to return the money and meet with her multiple times, Lopez never showed up.

Only recalling his physical appearance, Martinez was shocked to find a mugshot of Lopez on a Facebook profile and a reward offered from Gains County, Texas, on outstanding warrants for theft.

Lopez’s final attempt at scams occurred in October when a mother sought to bail her son out of jail. This time, he impersonated the Mission attorney, Rene Flores, through phone calls demanding large sums of cash.

Lopez offered legal help to his neighbor, Georgia Amador Contreras, to get her son, Oziel Amador, released from jail. Contreras received two phone calls claiming to be from the criminal defense attorney, who requested she pay $6,700 so her son could be released on house arrest with an ankle monitor.

Contreras also gave the scammer additional money at his request, with $1,350 for three citations, $600 to get Oziel’s car removed from impound, $180 for uniforms she believed were promised to her son alongside a job offer, and a final $5,000 payment for legal fees.

Lopez stole over $13,612 from his neighbor.

When her son’s court date came up in February 2024 and she stated Rene Flores was working on his case, Flores said he “didn’t have a client by the name of Oziel Amador.”

Flores said he did not know any of the parties in this case, the phone numbers utilized for the scam did not belong to him, and a signature provided on a receipt was not his, according to HSCO documents.

Mission is not the only Valley city Lopez is wanted in.

“He also has theft warrants in other cities of the Rio Grande Valley using Modus Operandi,” stated Investigator Jorge Rodriguez on March 7, 2024.

Lopez, arrested March 9, was charged with a third-degree felony and a $305,000 bond.