Thursday, May 27, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.
The FBI continues to search for 11 people named in two federal racketeering indictments alleging two Romanian crime rings are using stolen credit cards and false identification to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from Las Vegas casinos and ATMs.
The two indictments were unsealed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leavitt Tuesday after FBI agents arrested six people in the case. Since then three more people have been arrested, leaving 11 who have not yet been located by authorities.
The indictments, returned by a federal grand jury on May 11, allege racketeering, fraudulent use and trafficking in unauthorized and counterfeit credit cards, conspiracy and possession of document-making equipment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Vasquez estimated at a federal court hearing Wednesday that the losses caused by the alleged illegal activity could total more than $1 million.
Vasquez said that the indictments are the result of a two-year FBI investigation. FBI spokesman Special Agent Todd Palmer said that the investigation is ongoing.
The indictments allege the credit card rings sent out runners across the country to steal credit cards that were then transported to Las Vegas, where they were used with fake driver's licenses to obtain cash advances at casinos and from automated teller machines. The credit cards were also used at casinos in Reno and Atlantic City.
The fake licenses would have the picture of the person using the card, and the name of the victim from whom the credit card was taken, according to the indictments.
The groups liked to prey on people at fitness centers, where credit cards were easily taken from lockers while people worked out, or from cars parked at trail heads at recreation areas, Vasquez said.
"They stole these cards from all over the country and then transported them to Las Vegas,n where they would try to get cash advances," Vasquez said. "They went to where the money is."
On Tuesday the FBI seized computers, printers, digital cameras, lock-picking tools, laminators, credit cards, ATM components and an ATM from the Las Vegas homes of the six people arrested in Las Vegas.
"We believe they used the ATM machine to practice one of their newer techniques, which was using skimming devices," Vasquez said.
The skimming devices allowed for credit card numbers and electro-magnetic identifiers to be copied from ATMs, and then the group would place a small video camera at the machine to record personal identification numbers.
On Tuesday the FBI arrested Eduard Andronescu, 28; Georgiana Viorica Muresan, 23; Nana Ochershvili, 23; and Mariana Iancu, 34, all in Las Vegas. All are named in a seven-count indictment that names nine other people. Two of them, Sam Magzanyan, 26, and Petros Kekedian, 29, were arrested in Los Angeles. The other seven have not been located by the FBI.
The indictment alleges Iancu's husband, Florin Iancu led the ring.
It says the ring was in competition with another criminal group in Los Angeles and that a member of Iancu's group shot and killed a member of the rival organization on Jan. 25, 2002, in Las Vegas. Iancu's group has been operating in Las Vegas since at least January of 2000, the indictment says.
Also on Tuesday Moise Olariu, 29, and Nicolae Dragoi, 36, both of Las Vegas, were arrested on charges stemming from a three-count indictment that names six other people allegedly involved in a second Las Vegas credit card ring. One of those, Cosmin Radu Hristian, 29, was arrested in Miami, and the remaining five have not yet been found by the FBI.
The second ring has been operating in Las Vegas since at least November 2001, the indictment alleges.
Muresan, Ochershvili, Iancu, Olariu and Dragoi were all arraigned on Wednesday by Leavitt, and all five pleaded not guilty. Andronescu was scheduled to be arraigned today.
Muresan, Dragoi and Olariu remain in custody because Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed holds on them as they are believed to be in the country illegally. Dragoi was to have a detention hearing today, because his attorney said that there is paperwork to show that his client is in the country legally despite there also being an Immigration and Customs hold on him. Muresan and Olariu will be held pending trial.
Leavitt released Ochershvili and Iancu, both naturalized American citizens from Romania, on personal recognizance bonds, but both must remain in Clark County and turn over their passports. In addition, Ochershvili was ordered to secure a $30,000 bond on her home in Las Vegas.
Ochershvili, Mariana Iancu and Muresan are scheduled for trial on Aug. 3, while Olariu and Dragoi are scheduled for trial on July 26. Andronescu's trial date was to be determined at today's hearing.
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