(Radio Iowa) — A man from Romania has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a skimmer scam in eastern Iowa. Information in his plea agreement shows 21-year-old Romica Martuica entered the U-S illegally in 2016 and was arrested in Hiawatha in 2019 along with two other people. The three had more than 90 counterfeit credit and debit cards on them. The cards had account information that had been acquired by using card skimmers on A-T-M’s.

Martuica used fake cards more than 70 times and withdrew around 86-hundred dollars before police caught him. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to pay restitution to his victims.

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa Democrat Third District Representative Cindy Axne, today (Thusday), announced a more than $7.58-million program grant for the Iowa Department of Public Health, to support Iowa’s rural hospitals in addressing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in rural communities. The funding provided by the Coronavirus State Hospital Improvement Program was funded within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed unanimously by Congress late last month.

Axne said “Our small, rural hospitals across the state are all financially struggling to cope with the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19. I’m pleased to see this critical funding coming back to Iowa to help our rural health providers who have told me that they need support while continuing to respond to COVID-19 cases and provide Iowans with essential health care services.”

The funding will go towards helping hospitals purchase testing and laboratory services or replenish critical supplies like personal protective equipment (PPE). The Iowa Department of Public Health is charged with distributing the grant funding across Iowa.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ Thursday press conference on COVID-19. We plan on providing live audio of the presser on KJAN as well, which is set to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.