Investigators have identified one of the suspects responsible for a distraction theft in Port Perry in 2018.
On Monday, April 29, 2019, at approximately 11:45 a.m., members of West Division were called to a Home Depot parking lot on Kingston Road in Ajax for a suspicious male who was trying to trying to look at customers pin numbers as they made purchases. The male was arrested in the parking lot and further investigation revealed that this same suspect was responsible for a distraction theft from July 2018 in Port Perry where he targeted an 83-year-old male and another incident on June 15, 2018 in Pickering where the accused stole a debit card from an elderly male.
Viorel NEAMTU, age 38 of No Fixed Address is charged with: Theft Under $5,000 x2; Fraud Under $5,000 x4; Unauthorized Use of Credit Card x4; Identity Fraud x2; Identity Theft x2 and Possession of Proceeds of Crime Under $5,000 x3. He was held for a bail hearing.
Police want to ensure there are no further victims and are still trying to identify the second suspect. Please find attached a photo of NEAMTU and the unknown suspect.
Anyone with information that could help investigators is asked to contact D/Cst. Azzano of the West Division Criminal Investigation Bureau at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 2526.
Anonymous information can be sent to Durham Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at http://www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
