MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The list of people victimized by a gang of alleged swindlers stealing from seniors in Miami-Dade County is growing, and it may be part of a nationwide hustle.
Eighty-nine-year old Mario Acosta says he was hounded in front of his southwest Miami-Dade home, near Tropical Park, while he was alone.
A trio was pestering him to purchase jewelry. He said they were emotional, crying and hugging him, ultimately begging for financial help, until he caved and grabbed his cash.
“They were trying to get me to give them money,” Acosta told Local 10 News in Spanish. “It was a soap opera, they would hug me and begged me to help them, that they didn’t have any money.”
He gave them $1,500 for the bogus jewelry.
“He was very frustrated,” Tres Touzet, Acosta’s neighbor, said. “Even I was frustrated for him.”
Detectives have identified the trio involved in a series of distraction thefts as Avrinte Miclescu, Olanda Miclescu, and Cristina Sirbu.
In Hialeah, they’re accused of giving a woman a fake chain in order to get close to her to steal her real jewelry off her body.
Police believe the group has been traveling across the country, committing crimes. At least two of the suspects were recently arrested in Sonoma County, California.
Two of the suspects have since bonded out.