Irvine ATM sting leads to the arrest of two Anaheim men suspected of stealing from EBT accounts

On By art-pedroza

This post was originally published on this site

Over the past few months, the Irvine Police Department’s Investigations Bureau has been investigating a complex county-wide fraud scheme where thieves withdraw Electric Benefit Transfers (EBT) funds shortly after they are deposited into victims’ accounts.

Yesterday, the police conducted a large-scale surveillance operation across Irvine to monitor ATMs.

Detectives observed two men making multiple withdrawals from an ATM near Culver and Walnut. After contacting them, we found they were carrying a lot of money and evidence showing they had made other withdrawals in a nearby city.

Picture courtesy of the Irvine Police Dept

Marius Gafei, 41, and Valentin Velicu, 49, of Anaheim, were arrested and booked at Orange County Jail on grand theft and fraud charges. The investigation is on-going.

The last name Gafei is predominantly used in countries such as France and Italy and is most prevalent in France, with 3 occurrences, making it the 144,808th most popular name in the country, according to Nameslook.

The last name Velicu i smost commonly found in Romania, according to Surnam.Es.

By targeting EBT card users these suspects were picking on the neediest people in Orange County.

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Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions.

When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.