Cruise Passenger Gets 4 Years for $20K Casino Scam, Fake ID & Mid-Cruise Escape Plans

A man who used a fake ID to board the 4,600-passenger Discovery Princess last year has been sentenced to prison.

The Philippine national, 38-year-old Enrico Ronquillo, used one stolen ID to board the cruise ship and another to get a cash advance of $20,000 from the ship’s casino.

But before he could skip the rest of the cruise and take a flight from Alaska’s capital with the cash, border patrol agents spotted the red flags and spoiled his plans.

A “Catch Me If You Can” High Seas Scheme

This crazy story sounds more like the plot of a movie more than anything else. In a modern day “Catch Me if You Can” type scheme, Ronquillo admitted that he had committed this type of fraud on cruise ships before.

So, this wasn’t his first rodeo. We don’t have details as to how much he got away with during his previous cruises or what ship’s he booked.

But since he had used at least two stolen identities for this sailing alone, it’s safe to assume he used a stolen credit card to even pay for this vacation/job which began in Seattle.

Getting on the ship was the first part of the job. Grabbing a $20,000 cash advance from the Princess Cruises casino was the main goal.

And it appears this happened not in one lump sum, but cash withdrawals were made on at least four occasions at the cruise ship’s casino.

According to federal agency records detailing the initial indictment, Ronquillo even went as far as forging an IRS Form W-9 using a victim’s stolen name, signature, and Social Security number to keep the casino from flagging his cash-out streak.

Feds Board the Cruise Ship in Juneau

According to an affidavit, a Customs and Border Protection officer was looking for people on the ship that may have committed credit card fraud. Agents realized that Ronquillo did not match the photo ID he had used, and on May 14, 2025, CBP officers boarded the cruise ship when it docked in Juneau, Alaska, and searched the man.

That’s when they found all the evidence they needed: two birth certificates, a California driver’s license that appeared to be fake, and the biggest smoking gun… a huge amount of cash in his backpack.

Ronquillo was indicted by a federal grand jury back in June of 2025 after pleading guilty to one count of false impersonation and one count of aggravated identity theft.

On Wednesday, June 17, 2026, Ronquillo was handed a 53-month prison sentence in addition to one-year supervised release after completion of his sentence.

And more importantly, he must pay over $25,000 in restitution.

Because he is a lawful permanent resident and not a U.S. citizen, the court judgment also subjects him to mandatory deportation proceedings the moment he finishes his time behind bars.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska said that “Mr. Ronquillo knowingly used stolen identities and personal information of innocent U.S. citizens to gain passage on a cruise ship and enrich himself at its casino.”

“This fraudster stole the identity of a U.S. citizen and impersonated the victim while on board a cruise ship, where he then continued to commit financial fraud crimes on the high seas,” stated Assistant Special Agent in Charge Zachary Pomerantz of the FBI Anchorage Field Office.

Ronquillo said that has was working with someone else in Seattle, and the plan was to split the cash with them.

If Customs and Border Protection agents did not board the ship when they did, the Philippine national who was living legally in the U.S. might have gotten away with it. He already had a plane ticket to fly out of Juneau the day he was arrested.

A Wild Airport Escape Attempt

But the dramatic story didn’t end there.

After his initial arrest in Juneau, he was released on bail a few days later. As detailed in official court documents tracking his escape attempt, he cut off his ankle monitor and headed straight to the Juneau airport to escape.

He even made it through the TSA security checkpoint and was waiting to board his escape flight when the Juneau Police Department caught up with him and once again arrested him.

Ronquillo is currently being held at the Lemon Creek Correctional Facility. While his primary 53-month sentence has officially been locked in for the cruise ship heist, he is scheduled for a follow-up court readiness hearing on July 16, 2026, to clear up the remaining legal fallout from his wild airport escape attempt.

In the end, his biggest gamble wasn’t hitting the ship’s casino and betting everything on black, it was betting that federal border agents wouldn’t notice he looked nothing like his ID.