Two New York residents are accused of using a cash-switch trick to take a valuable piece of gold artwork from a Wiscasset, Maine, business after presenting what appeared to be a payment made with $100 bills.
Mircea Lucaci, 35, of Woodside, New York, and Maria Rostas, 49, of Flushing, New York, have each been charged with Class C theft by deception. A Sept. 10 Wiscasset Police Department release republished by Wiscasset Newspaper said both suspects also had outstanding arrest warrants in multiple states for similar theft-related offenses.
According to the release, the Aug. 9 incident happened at Ingram Fine Arts on Main Street, where the pair asked about gold pieces before selecting artwork valued at $8,000. Investigators later identified them with assistance from law enforcement agencies in Maine, Virginia and Florida.
The department’s release said the investigation indicated Lucaci and Rostas may be associated with a Romanian theft ring targeting gold. Wiscasset police obtained arrest warrants charging both with theft by deception as the investigation continued.
The Payment Stack Allegedly Changed When the Owner Looked Away
The police release said Lucaci and Rostas negotiated a lower price for the artwork and then counted out cash consisting of $100 bills.
When the store owner’s attention was diverted, investigators allege the pair substituted that money with a different stack made up primarily of $1 bills concealed beneath a single $100 bill.
The owner reported the theft Aug. 10. According to the release, police obtained surveillance footage from the business and distributed photographs of the suspects to law enforcement agencies around the country.
WMTW separately reported the same alleged cash-switch sequence, including the $8,000 valuation, the initial count of $100 bills and the substitution with mostly $1 bills after the owner looked away.
Police in Maine, Virginia and Florida Helped Identify the Suspects
The Wiscasset Police release credited four agencies with helping identify Lucaci and Rostas: the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Kennebunk Police Department in Maine, the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia and the Melbourne Police Department in Florida.
After the identifications were made, the release said investigators learned that both suspects had outstanding arrest warrants in multiple states involving similar alleged theft-related offenses.
Lucaci had also surfaced in an earlier investigation involving stolen gold. In June 2023, the Numismatic Crime Information Center reported that Homeland Security Investigations had asked coin dealers for information about Lucaci after he was arrested by police in Lubbock, Texas, and extradited to Rockville, Maryland.
According to NCIC, Rockville police wanted Lucaci in connection with the theft of gold coins from a coin shop. The organization said Lucaci had been involved in numerous offenses in the United States and other countries and that NCIC had been tracking him since 2019.
NCIC also reported that Lucaci and other Romanian nationals had targeted coin shops and coin shows across the United States. That earlier reporting provides a separate record of alleged gold-related theft activity involving Lucaci beyond the current Wiscasset Police release.
In the Maine investigation, the department said Lucaci and Rostas may be associated with a Romanian theft ring targeting gold. Police obtained Wiscasset arrest warrants charging both with Class C theft by deception and asked anyone with information to contact the department at 207-882-8202.
The Artwork’s Value Places the Allegation in Maine’s Class C Range
Maine’s theft-by-deception law applies when a person obtains or exercises control over another person’s property through deception with the intent to deprive the owner of it.
The statute makes theft by deception involving property valued at more than $1,000 but not more than $10,000 a Class C crime. The Wiscasset Police release valued the gold artwork at $8,000, placing the alleged theft within that statutory range.
Maine law defines deception to include intentionally creating or reinforcing a false impression that the person does not believe to be true. It also covers intentionally preventing another person from obtaining information relevant to the disposition of the property involved.
The investigation remained ongoing when Wiscasset police announced the warrants.