HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hallandale Beach police have identified a suspect allegedly involved in a fraudulent scheme that targets Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) users.
Walerian Grabowski, 32, was on the FBI’s most wanted list of fraud.
Police say when they ran into him in Hallandale Beach on Wednesday, he had a bit to drink.
After being detained for giving cops a fake ID, Grabowski was heard bragging to police that he was a wanted man and the FBI had been looking for him.
“Look who I am,” Grabowski was heard telling police on exclusive body camera video obtained by Local 10 News. “I’m number one most wanted.”
“How strange is that? He was getting extremely upset that the officer wouldn’t believe him,” said Grace Mariot, Chief of Staff at the Hallandale Beach Police Department.
Grabowski and four others — Birdal Osman, Ilie-Sebastian-Laur Vasilescu, Bogdan Adrian Purgariu and Silviu-Florin Spiridon — used card skimming devices to steal money from victims’ EBT cards, according to the FBI.
An indictment indicates the thefts took place in Alhambra, Garden Grove, Tustin, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Fullerton, Brea, Culver City, Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Newport Beach.
During the scheme, it is alleged that “Grabowski” and the other subjects requested disbursements totaling more than $220,000 in EBT government funds from more than 300 victims.
Grabowski’s charges have not yet been released but police confirm that he is being held without bond.
Please help us locate five individuals #wanted for allegedly defrauding recipients of a federal benefits program by installing skimming devices on point-of-sale terminals to illegally access funds in victims' EBT cards. Call #FBILosAngeles at 3104776565 with tips. #FugitiveFriday pic.twitter.com/OZm5UYdo9r
— FBI Los Angeles (@FBILosAngeles) September 29, 2023