A New York City man has been arrested nearly 900 miles from where his alleged crimes took place, after a fraud investigation that started with a public tip about a suspicious car. His name is Jeancarlos Castellanos, and he’s 27.
Castellanos was arrested on September 3, 2026, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and booked into the Milwaukee County Jail. He’s now awaiting extradition back to North Carolina to face the charges piling up against him there.
How the Case Started
Back on August 12, 2026, the Craven County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina asked the public for help identifying a man wanted for questioning in a fraud investigation. Investigators said the suspect had been driving a black Cadillac Escalade with fictitious registration, connected to a credit card fraud case.
That public appeal worked. Investigators eventually identified Castellanos as the suspect, and it turned out he was tied to fraud schemes involving credit cards and, notably, Pokémon cards, stretching across multiple states from Florida to Pennsylvania.
The Charges Add Up Fast
Once Castellanos was identified, warrants started coming in from more than one direction. The Craven County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant on August 20 charging him with felony identity theft, felony financial card theft, felony obtaining property by false pretense, and felony conspiracy.
Separately, the New Bern Police Department issued its own set of warrants covering incidents within city limits, adding additional counts of felony identity theft, felony financial card theft, and felony obtaining property by false pretense. Combined across both agencies, reports indicate the warrants add up to three counts of felony obtaining property by false pretenses, three counts of felony financial card theft, three counts of felony identity theft, and two counts of felony conspiracy.
Not His First Run With Fraud Charges
This isn’t the only fraud case with Castellanos’s name attached either. A separate report from 2025 describes a Castellanos facing charges in Miami-Dade County involving grand theft, organized fraud, scheme to defraud a financial institution, and fraudulent use of identity information, tied to opening bank accounts using stolen identities. It’s worth noting that case involved a different set of specific allegations and location, and it’s not fully clear from public reporting whether it’s the same individual, so that detail should be treated with some caution.
Where the Case Stands
Castellanos remains held at the Milwaukee County Jail while formal interstate extradition proceedings move forward to bring him back to North Carolina. Once extradited, he’ll need to face the separate sets of charges from both the Craven County Sheriff’s Office and the New Bern Police Department.
Right now, everything against him remains an allegation, and Castellanos is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Given how many jurisdictions are reportedly involved in his alleged activity, from North Carolina to Florida to Pennsylvania, this case may take a while to fully sort out once it lands back in a North Carolina courtroom.