A Romanian man has been arrested and another Romanian is being sought in connection with the theft of over $700,000 in an 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,” said Sheriff Ramsey Bennett. Viorel Cristea, age unavailable, of a Miami, FL, address was arrested last week in Miami. Cristea was extradited to Pierce County and booked into the Pierce County Jail Wednesday, May 21.
He is charged with felony identity theft.
The other suspect, whose name has not been released, remains at large. Details about the suspect were not available at press time.
Bennett said the sheriff’s office began to receive theft reports concerning Ace Equipment Thursday, April 24. A total of 14 separate incidents totaling $713,495 ranging in amounts from $20,000 to $94,900 directly tied to the scheme have been reported to the sheriff’s office.
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.
They then used the website to sell discounted tractors. The website has since been seized by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.
The farmer had purchased what he thought was a John Deere tractor from the scammers. The scammers gave a bank account in Savannah connected with a nationally recognized chain.
However, the farmer never received the tractor and the money deposited in the Savannah bank was allegedly withdrawn by Cristea and the other suspect from a branch of the bank in Miami.
Investigators were then able to track them down and secure warrants for their arrests.
Cristea is currently being held in the Pierce County Jail.
