LOS ANGELES - Sixteen people were charged in a massive EBT fraud scheme going back months, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Tuesday.
Tuesday's charges were the end result of a monthlong investigation into allegations of fraud, in which the group allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from people and families in need.
"Stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to feed children and families is nothing short of disgusting," Gascón said.
Thirteen of the 16 charged — Nicolae Petrache, 48; Marius Gavrilescu, 45; and Stefan Marin, 46; Anca Cretu, 33; Andreas Graagand, 34; Cristian Moldova Remus 43; Andrei Birau, 29; Mayra Cardona, 28; Nikoli Kostaki, 35; Dumitri Florin, 47; Nistea Ionutflorin, 29; Fabi Marconi, 41; and Viorel Luchian, 41 — face one count each of grand theft and grand theft of access card information. The remaining three — Stefan Gunar 32; Eduard Bobol, 45; and Antonio Bergomi, 28 — face the grand theft charge in addition to one count each of grand theft by selling or transferring an access card.
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The criminal complaint alleges that the group stole private EBT account information from cardholders, then cloned EBT cards to match that information, and used the fake EBT cards to withdraw money from the accounts at ATMs. The legitimate account holders would later try and withdraw funds, only to find their accounts empty.
In an operation led by the Souther California High Tech Task Force last week, authorities were able to make the 16 arrests and seize $130,000 in cash and more than 300 cloned EBT cards with an estimated value of $400,000.
All of the defendants pleaded not guilty Tuesday and were released on electronic monitoring, according to the District Attorney's Office.
The task force is continuing to investigate, anyone with information about EBT fraud or this case is asked to call 818-576-8860.
City News Service contributed to this report.