Two elderly people from Cluj were robbed of thousands of lei after they allowed access to a thief posing as a representative of the City Hall, who offered them carpets as a gift

Two elderly people from Cluj were robbed of thousands of lei after they allowed access to a thief who pretended to be a representative of the City Hall, who offered them carpets as a gift but had to pay for the transport.

The two were robbed in June last year, on June 7 and June 12, respectively; the defendant went to the homes of the injured persons where, in order to enter, he presented himself as being sent by the local authorities with help for the elderly. Once he was invited to the house, the defendant convinced the injured persons to show him the place where he keeps the money and, taking advantage of the state of vulnerability caused by his advanced age, stole from them the sum of 4,000 lei and 6,550 lei respectively.

During the criminal investigation, the defendant tried to mislead the investigative bodies and did not admit to committing the crimes for which he was investigated, but during the trial, the defendant appeared before the court and admitted to committing the crimes. He was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence after the Cluj Court of Appeal rejected his appeal yesterday.
According to the documents in the file, consulted by actualdecluj.ro, here is how the two facts are described:

On June 7, 2023 at around 2 p.m., the injured person, aged 86, was at his home. The defendant arrived here in an Opel car and presented himself as a councilman, coming to bring help for pensioners, but he needed the injured person’s pension voucher to see if he qualifies for help. The injured person entered the building, closely followed by the defendant. The first one took out the wallet from under the pillow in the bedroom, from which she took the pension coupon, which she showed to the defendant. He replied that “it is no longer important”, after which he took the wallet from the hand of the injured person. Under the pretext that he would need euros, the defendant started looking in his wallet, at the same time turning to the switch at the entrance to the room, on the grounds that it would be dark. This was the moment when the defendant appropriated the amount of 4,000 lei, without the injured person noticing this. After turning on the light and turning to the injured person, he returned the wallet to her, without her checking its contents. After this moment, the defendant went to the car he came with, from which he took out two rugs and two carpets, which he left in the yard, always repeating “No, that’s fine.” He also told the injured person that his father is a businessman from Hungary and he deals with charitable actions, and all this activity of helping needy people is supported by the advice. The defendant shook hands with the injured person and left on board the car. Only when he returned to the house to make sure that everything was okay, the injured person noticed that the sum of 4,000 lei had been stolen from his wallet.

Later, on June 12, 2023 at around 11 a.m., another injured person, aged 85, was at his home when the defendant arrived with a car and presented himself as being sent by the town hall of Câmpeni, because he knew that the person the victim is a pensioner, he would have given you a gift for her, in the form of carpets that would have been worth 100 million. He also told him that he was from Hungary and would need euro banknotes for transport. The injured person replied that she did not have euros, but the defendant continued to insist on this aspect, causing her to go and check if she had currency.

Under this pretext, the defendant entered the home of the injured person, the latter moving into the hall, to open the chest in which she kept her money, hidden among her clothes, in four envelopes, and another sum of money in a separate bag, folded in a cloth, all these being kept in a strait. A bank card was also in the bag. The injured person put the nightstand on the bed, and took out the four envelopes from it, showing the defendant that he did not have any euros. He paid him 100 lei for the transport, but the defendant asked to give him more. the injured person refused to pay more, leaving the envelopes and the bag on the bed, after which he turned in another direction, because he was cooking. At one point, another person entered the house and brought the injured person a loaf of bread. During this period of time, the defendant appropriated several banknotes from the injured person’s envelopes, as well as the bag containing the other sums of money and the bank card. The defendant explained to the injured person that it was important not to tell anyone that he had given him the carpets, not to call anyone to hide the carpets. Finally, the defendant left the residence, at which point the injured person noticed that he was holding a bag in his hand, without realizing that it was the very bag containing his money. Later, the injured person realized that the defendant went to the envelopes on the bed and stole several sums of money, which is why he called his son and later notified the police. After checking each envelope the next day, during the on-site investigation, the injured person found that the damage amounted to 6,550 lei.

After the defendant and the witnesses left the home of the injured person, the criminal investigation bodies were notified by the latter. The defendant did not admit to committing the crimes in the previously described way. He tried to conceal the committed acts, stating that the injured persons would have allowed him to leave with the sums claimed to have been stolen, everything being a random misunderstanding.

The Cluj Court of Appeal rejected the defendant’s appeal yesterday and upheld the sentence given by the trial court: three years of suspended prison. “Since the defendant has not been convicted, the punishment applied is not more than 3 years in prison, the defendant behaved relatively well during the criminal trial and at the deadline of 17.11.2023 he expressed his agreement to perform unpaid work in benefit of the community according to Article 91 paragraph (1) letter c) of the Criminal Code, the court considers that the purpose of the punishment can be achieved without its execution, so, based on Article 91 and Article 92 of the Criminal Code, it will suspend under supervision the execution of the punishment of 3 years in prison, for the duration of the 3-year supervision period”, assessed the substantive court, Gherla Court, in the sentencing decision. It also helped that the defendant recovered damages from both injured parties. Let’s mention that the defendant is being investigated in another file with a similar mode of operation, where the court has not yet ruled.

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