Dec. 14--Four men from New York by way of Russia and Kazakhstan were charged with felonies after allegedly stealing financial information from ATMs in Skokie.
Irmiyo Izraelov, 24; Bakai Marat-Uulu, 23; Yevgeniy A. Dubovskiy, 24; and Konstantin Miroshnikov, 24, all of Brooklyn, appeared in bond court Sunday, accused of identity theft.
Prosecutors alleged a Chase bank branch in the northern suburb was informed Dec. 1 that a skimming device had been attached to an ATM. Bank officials pulled video footage from the ATM and determined the four men were responsible.
The bank then got another report of a skimming device on an ATM on Dec. 10, and again identified the four men as the ones responsible. They were arrested the same day. Police found card readers, decoders and other identity theft equipment in the men's car and the hotel room where they were staying, prosecutors said.
The four men told Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. that they originally are from Russia and Kazakhstan. It was not clear how they know each other, but the men live in nearby neighborhoods in the southern part of Brooklyn. Izraelov and Dubovskiy both live in the Midwood neighborhood. Miroshnikov lives in Bensonhurst and Marat-Uulu lives in Bath Beach.
Bourgeois ordered each man held on $500,000 bail, saying they were a significant flight risk and he did not believe they would show up for their various court dates.
It was not apparent from court records how much money was stolen or how many people may have been affected by the alleged theft.
cdrhodes@tribpub.com
