Romanian Citizens Illegally Residing in United States Sentenced to Federal Prison on Fraud Charges

LAFAYETTE, La. - United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Dorin Munteanu Racu, Alias Adrian Ciobanu, 41, a Romanian citizen who was unlawfully in the Western District of Louisiana, has been sentenced in connection with a scheme to defraud. United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. sentenced Racu to the maximum sentence of 60 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

Racu and his co-defendant, Gheorghe Olar, Alias Alin Mielu, Alias Mihai Papurica, 59, also a Romanian citizen living unlawfully in the United States, were indicted in 2014 and charged with wire fraud, structuring, and possession with intent to use five or more documents or authentication features. Olar pleaded guilty to possession with intent to use five or more documents or authentication features and was sentenced on January 12, 2017, to spend an additional 10 months in prison, for a total sentence of 24 months.

Racu fled from authorities after his initial appearance in court on August 19, 2014, and remained a fugitive for over eight years. He ultimately made it back to Romania, but Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information on his location, and extradition was sought by the United States. Once extradition was approved, Romanian authorities arrested him pursuant to their treaty with the United States, and he was brought back to Lafayette, Louisiana where he remained incarcerated without bond pending trial and until he pled guilty.

An investigation by law enforcement agents revealed that Racu and Olar were acquaintances and had worked together in the past doing construction work in the Lafayette area. Both men were working to make extra money and sending cash to Romania and other international locations using false identification cards. The amounts Racu and Olar wired were sent in denominations under $3,000 to avoid reporting requirements, almost always in amounts of $2,900, and done numerous times at various locations to avoid suspicion.

On March 13, 2014, Racu recruited Olar to make extra money as they had done before, and Olar agreed. That evening, Racu and Olar continued their pattern of illegal activity of using false identification cards to send money to foreign countries in structured amounts. After several transactions were completed and while the two defendants were traveling to the next location, Racu was stopped by law enforcement officers in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, for a traffic violation. Consent to search Racu's vehicle was obtained and over $20,000 in cash was located, along with 11 false identification documents, including identification cards and driver's licenses, depicting Racu and Olar's photographs but with different names, addresses, and other information. Seven false identification documents, South Carolina identification cards, were located with Olar's photograph. In addition, MoneyGram documents and a ledger were seized which indicated five previous illegal transactions had been recently wired by Racu and Olar in the amount of $2,900 each.

Forensic evidence seized, along with other evidence from state and federal investigations, revealed that Racu and Olar participated in an illegal conspiracy whereby a group of Romanian and other foreign individuals defrauded hundreds of victims out of over $700,000. These foreign co-conspirators used computers to advertise cars, motorcycles, boats, and other items for sale on Craig's List and when a victim agreed to purchase the item, the co-conspirators required the victim purchasing the item to wire the purchase price into a Google wallet account. The victim never received the purchased item as promised. The illegal proceeds from this scheme were withdrawn in cash at locations in the United States, and a portion of the proceeds went to Racu and Olar with instructions to wire the funds back to co-conspirators in Romania and other countries. On March 13, 2014, the day of their arrest, Racu and Olar had sent, or were about to send, $35,152 in illegal proceeds back to co-conspirators in Romania and other countries, using false documents at different MoneyGram locations within the Western District of Louisiana.

The case was investigated by Department of Homeland Security Investigations, with fugitive assistance provided by the United States Marshals Service and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Myers P. Namie.

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