An illegal alien who has been a fugitive from justice in connection with a local farm equipment scam has been arrested in Washington state.
Bogdan Alexandru Gherghevici, also known as “Victor Zema”, 27, a Romanian national, was arrested last week near Seattle.
Gherghevici is set to be transferred back to the Southern District of Georgia. Gherghevici was illegally in the United States and fled when the investigation began. Gherghevici is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The capture, and subsequent extradition of Gherghevici has been ordered by Western District of Washington Magistrate Judge Brian A. Tsuchida, ensures the Southern District of Georgia can proceed with the prosecution of the case.
“We commend our law enforcement partners no matter where they may be, and the team effort across the country will now send this defendant back to answer for the conduct alleged in this case,” said U.S. Attorney Meg Heap. “We look forward to bringing this case to a resolution and assisting the victims with closure.”
“Fleeing prosecution does not erase the harm caused to victims or stop HSI from pursuing justice,” said Steven N. Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and Alabama. “This arrest reflects the strength of our partnerships with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and law enforcement partners in Washington state. HSI will continue working across jurisdictions to identify, locate and bring alleged fraudsters before the courts.”
The case was investigated by HSI Savannah Field Office, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Bondura, Olivia Brame and L. Alexander Hamner.
Gherghevici was indicted in August of last year for 16 counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges. Gherghevici is alleged to have worked with a partner, Viorel Cristea, 33, in the scam.
The indictment alleges that at least as early as March, 2025, and up to and including May, 2025, the two participated in an extensive scheme falsely claiming to sell used farm equipment. This fraudulent scheme victimized more than a dozen prospective purchasers across the country, many of them elderly, and resulted in a total loss of more than $600,000.
Cristea, 33, also a Romanian citizen illegally present in the United States, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in March of this year after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge R. Stan Baker also ordered Cristea to pay restitution to victims of $679,100, and to be deported upon completion of his prison term.
There is no parole in the federal system.
The investigation began in May 2025 when a victim contacted the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office regarding suspicious activity from a farm equipment dealer purported to be located in Blackshear, in the Southern District of Georgia. Sheriff’s Office investigators and Homeland Security Investigations agents determined the company was fraudulent, and HSI agents identified Cristea and Gherghevici as conspirators.
Cristea and Gherghevici allegedly developed the identity theft scheme using a website once owned by Ace Equipment Company in Blackshear.
“It is one of the largest identity theft cases we’ve ever had in Pierce County, and it is one of the only cases where we have been able to make an arrest,” Sheriff Ramsey Bennett said at the time.
Reports have come from locations scattered from as far north as New York and Minnesota, and as far west as Colorado and Texas.
“The first call came from a farmer in Colorado who told us he had been in touch with a salesman at Ace Equipment who identified himself as a Eunice, the family who formerly owned the dealership,” the sheriff said.
Bennett said he knew right away the farmer had been scammed since the Eunice family sold the company to Beach Timber Company of Alma in 2020.
The old Ace Equipment Company’s website was allegedly hacked and taken over by the suspects.
According to court records, the conspirators “employed a host of false representations to induce victims to ‘purchase’ the fictitious farming equipment,” inducing the buyers to wire transfer large sums of money to bank accounts owned by Cristea and co-conspirators.
The victims were told their equipment would be delivered in the coming days and weeks and when the machinery didn’t arrive the “sellers” would no longer respond to inquiries.
(A mugshot for Ghergevici was not available at press time.)
Cristea
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