Area credit card skimmers sentenced to one year in jail

Michaela Harris, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
·4 min read
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Apr. 4—Romanian nationals Alexandru Capatina and Leontin Ionut were sentenced to serve one year in Yuba County Jail and two years of formal probation on Thursday after being found guilty in connection to two card skimming operations in February, the Yuba County District Attorney's Office said.

Capatina and Ionut — who is also known by the alias Robert Wisek — were arrested on Feb. 28, nearly two weeks after a credit card skimming device was located on a self-checkout stand at the Walmart in Linda on Feb. 14.

A Walmart loss prevention employee first reported the device to the Yuba County Sheriff's Office. After reviewing surveillance footage, officials determined that the device was placed on Feb. 11 by two men driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Investigators were able to locate the vehicle at a Dollar General in Olivehurst on Feb. 22, where a second skimming device was found, the Appeal previously reported. Detectives continued their work in identifying and locating the suspects over the following days. A search warrant was executed with help from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on Feb. 28 at the 3400 block of Mayfair Drive in Sacramento, where Ionut and Capatina were located.

According to the DA's Office, detectives seized 46 Visa gift cards from the scene, which are typically used to encode the stolen account information and then used at stores and ATMs. Investigators also seized computers and $4,627 in cash.

Both men were arrested and charged with two counts of second degree burglary and stealing personal information.

"Detectives have not been able to confirm whether information skimmed in Yuba-Sutter by this operation has been used to steal from our citizens," the DA's Office said.

Yuba County Sheriff's deputies contacted other law enforcement agencies in the area and discovered that Ionut and Capatina also installed card skimmers at the Walmart in Yuba City and the Dollar General in Live Oak.

Sutter County Welfare Fraud Investigator Kevin Tasler also investigated the case and was able to identify the two men through video surveillance. Capatina and Ionut were previously arrested in Riverside County on similar charges, officials said.

According to the DA's Office, skimming devices are often placed on ATMs to illegally extract people's bank card information and any and all information about their identities. In this case, the devices appeared to be a frame of an ATM that was secured to the actual ATM at the register.

"As people pay for items by inserting their bank cards, the skimmer records their bank account, bank card number, and personal information onto a sim card," the DA's Office said. "Suspects do not even have to actually remove the frame to obtain the information, pulling the information from the sim card in the skimmer with a Bluetooth connection."

Both Ionut and Capatina spent time in Mexico before entering the United States illegally about eight months prior to their arrests, officials said. According to the DA's Office, neither man had a criminal conviction prior to this case, making them eligible for probation. The District Attorney's Office agreed to probation in exchange for their pleas to the burglary charges, but argued for maximum confinement, officials said.

Both men will be transferred to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department after finishing their sentences in Yuba County, the DA's Office said.

Ionut and Capatina reportedly denied being involved with organized crime, but this skimming operation closely resembles similar cases statewide. In December 2023, the FBI Los Angeles Field Office reported the arrest of nearly 50 people suspected of being tied to Romanian crime organizations believed to be orchestrating widespread skimming operations.

On Monday, Romanian national Marius Oprea, 38, was sentenced to serve six years in federal prison for leading a skimming operation that stole benefits from low-income families, according to the state Department of Justice.

Oprea — whom prosecutors believe illegally entered the United States — pleaded guilty in June 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, admitting that he and his accomplices used counterfeit cards to fraudulently make withdrawals from the accounts of numerous victims.

The skimming ring focused on Bank of America accounts, which provide debit cards for California anti-poverty programs, including those providing benefits for unemployed and disabled individuals.

Officials encourage anyone who believes they are a victim of stolen credit card information or identity theft to contact the Yuba County Sheriff's Office at 530-749-7777.