Three people accused of intimidating a man and forcing him to drain his bank accounts in Fairfax County, Virginia, in October likely committed similar crimes, police say, and authorities are asking for any other victims to come forward.
A man was driving on Interstate 495 Oct. 29 when he stopped to help three people he saw on the side of the road. A woman said they were stranded and needed money to continue their travels, according to police. She asked the man for cash in exchange for a watch and gold jewelry she showed him, police said.
Then, the woman convinced the man to drive to an ATM, and two men in a black SUV followed them, the victim told police. The man then realized it was likely a scam before he stopped in a parking lot and got out of his car, police said.
One of the men in the SUV then drove the victim to four different places in the county, intimidating him and forcing him to withdraw money, according to police. Once the victim's bank accounts were empty, the suspects left him and he called 911.
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A few days later, on Nov. 3, an officer spotted a gray Chevrolet Tahoe that appeared to be disabled on the Dulles Toll Road. When he pulled over, he identified the group in the Tahoe as 39-year-old Magdalena Mazil, 36-year-old Hagi Voinescu and 23-year-old Romeo Voinescu. All of them were from Baltimore.
Officers searched the Tahoe and found large amounts of fake gold jewelry, police said.
Police obtained warrants for abduction and four counts of robbery for the three, as well as an additional two warrants for Hagi Voinescu for preventing someone from calling 911. Mazil was also accused of preventing the victim from making a phone call.
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Baltimore City detectives arrested Hagi Voinescu and Mazil on Nov. 22. Romeo remains at large, police said.
Detectives believe the suspects are related to other crimes in the area.
In early October, police in Falls Church said that a group of suspects used a series of tricks to steal people's jewelry outside the Eden Center, a Vietnamese shopping mall. They tried to sell the victims fake jewelry, ask for directions, ask to pray with them or even ask for a hug, police said. Once the suspects were close enough, they put cheap jewelry on the victims, while simultaneously taking their valuable jewelry, police said.
When police released photos of the alleged perpetrators from I-495, Son Nguyen was sure they were the parking lot scammers he encountered at the Eden Center, when a man in an SUV offered to pay him to pay for his sick father. Nguyen said he’d do that for free, but a woman in the SUV called him over as the man gave him a handful of gold chains.
Nguyen already had a real gold chain given to him by his wife and didn’t need the other jewelry, but the couple drove off, leaving him with a handful of what he later learned was worthless jewelry.
The woman had performed a sleight of hand, slipping his real gold chain off his neck when she adorned him with the cheap stuff.
“She worked quick,” Nguyen said. “I didn’t feel a thing.”
It's unclear if that scheme is related to the I-495 case, but police are looking into it. They believe the trio may be working several states from the Carolinas to points north.
Police are asking anyone with information about the crime or who believes they were victims to call 703-691-2131. Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477) or by texting “FCCS” plus the tip to 847411.
Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 dollars if their information leads to an arrest, police said.
