A Queens man was sentenced on Tuesday for his role in an identity theft scheme that last year yielded thousands of bank account and credit card numbers from Long Island Railroad ticket vending machines bugged with hidden cameras.
Valer Zaharia will serve between two and six years in prison after pleading in March to felony grand larceny and conspiracy charges, prosecutors said, and forfeit $61,251.85 that was taken during a police investigation of the apartment he shared with wife and co-defendant Teodora Zaharia.
Teodora Zaharia, 28, pleaded guilty in late March to a felony count of grand larceny and is currently serving a nine-month prison sentence.
“The couple that stole together will not be staying together for the next few years, as they pay for their crimes against the riders of the Long Island Rail Road,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. “The Zaharias could have taken advantage of many honest opportunities there are to make a living here, but instead they chose to take advantage of hardworking people just trying to get to work.”
Valer Zaharia, 38, of Kew Gardens, is one of five Romanian nationals who prosecutors said attached homemade card-skimming devices to ticket machines at train stations in Bayside, Great Neck, Port Washington, Merillon Avenue, Greenvale and Sea Cliff.
He and Teodora were arrested on Oct. 28, 2013 after MTA police patrolling the Sea Cliff station saw them remove what was later identified as skimming equipment from vending machines.
Law enforcement officials were then led to the Elmhurst apartment shared by Dorin Husa, 37, and Niculae Petre, 45, where they recovered thousands of stolen credit card numbers, cash and paraphernalia that prosecutors said is used to commit bank card fraud, including cameras, skimmers, plastic molds, memory cards, flash drives and computers.
Husa and Petre each pleaded guilty to felony charges of criminal possession of forgery devices in mid March. Prosecutors have requested that Husa and Petre each be sentenced to one year in prison and forfeit $7,000 in cash recovered during the police investigation of their Elmhurst apartment.
Law enforcement officials are still seeking Cezar Nastasa, who after Husa, Petre and the Zaharias were arrested fled the country to the United Kingdom.
Nastasa has been charged with grand larceny and conspiracy in addition to multiple counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, unlawful possession of a skimmer device and criminal possession of a forgery device. A warrant is out for his arrest.
“Stopping identity theft is a top priority for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police and we are grateful that the Nassau County District Attorney’s office has carried out these prosecutions with equal vigor,” MTA Police Chief Michael Coan said. “We remind customers who use ticket machines to remain vigilant by always protecting their PIN when using a debit card and by reporting any suspicious behavior.”
