1 September 2023
A woman who is believed to be a member of a traveling crime ring that pulls off “sleight of hand” distraction thefts has pleaded guilty to theft by swindle and been given three years of probation.
Baronita Rostas (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
Baronita Rostas, 24, was arrested in late July in St. Louis Park and charged in Hennepin County District County with the one felony theft by swindle count. However, the criminal complaint accused her of bilking more than $6,200 from several metro-area stores by employing the “quick change” scheme.
Hennepin County prosecutors say Rostas is part of a Romanian organized crime group that has committed the distraction thefts at retail stores across the United States, including several in the Twin Cities over the course of several months this year.
The same charge was filed last month against a 25-year-old New York man who prosecutors say also is a member of the crime group. He was arrested in Edina shortly after allegedly pulling off the ploy at Southdale Center.
Rostas pleaded guilty to the charge Tuesday and then received her sentence, which included a stay of imposition, meaning the court accepted the plea but did not impose a prison term. If she successfully follows terms of probation, the felony conviction will be deemed a misdemeanor.
Rostas also was ordered to serve 34 days in jail, but given credit for already serving that amount of time.
Rostas has five active warrants in Oregon, Ohio and Pennsylvania for fraud, theft and larceny, according to the criminal complaint, which listed her address as “unknown.” In Tuesday’s plea petition, she listed a Northeast Minneapolis address as her place of residence.
Her case is the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Commerce Fraud Bureau, along with the Hennepin County attorney’s office and investigators with TJX Companies, a retailer that operates T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra and other stores around the U.S.
Terms of Rostas’ probation include staying away from those stores.
How the ruse works
According to the complaint, the commerce fraud bureau began an investigation in June after TJX investigators identified Rostas and several other members of the group, which had been engaged in the scheme at retail stores around the U.S. since at least 2018.
The criminal complaint said Rostas hit up stores in Hennepin, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties between March 14 and July 27, in addition to ones in North Carolina and Iowa, and that each transaction was documented on either store surveillance video or through transactions and images.
Investigators say the ruse typically works like this: A thief approaches a cashier with merchandise and a stack of cash and counts it out loud. With a finger on the stack, the thief distracts the cashier and slips out cash, hoping the cashier does not count it. The thief then returns the merchandise at a different store for its full value.
Over two days in March, Rostas allegedly stole $1,000 from a Marshalls in Eagan, $900 from a Marshalls in Roseville and a total of $1,800 from Old Navy stores in St. Louis Park and Albertville and at an Athleta store in Maple Grove.
Rostas stole $1,800 during two separate transactions at a Sierra store in Richfield on May 2, the complaint said.
After Rostas pulled off the scheme at stores in Gaston, N.C., and West Des Moines, Iowa, on July 26, she traveled back to Minnesota and tried it at a T.J. Maxx in Eagan the next day.
Investigators were alerted in “real time” and began surveillance of Rostas as she left the store and went to several other retail stores throughout the metro area, the complaint said. Rostas tried the scheme at a Burlington store in Richfield, before she and her husband made several merchandise returns.
Investigators later learned that Rostas made off with $780 at a Sierra store in Woodbury on July 27, prior to their surveillance.
St. Louis Park police arrested Rostas near the Hilton Double Tree Hotel, where she had been staying with her husband. She was in possession of “large amounts of cash” and retail merchandise, receipts and gift cards, the complaint said.
On the lam
Prosecutors on Aug. 3 charged Suraj Tomita of Jamaica, N.Y., for allegedly stealing about $1,900 from the Apple store at Southdale Center in Edina two days prior. Tomita also goes by the name Suraj Rostas, according to the criminal complaint, which does not mention if he is related to Baronita Rostas.
Suraj Tomita (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
Tomita pulled out $3,600 to pay for a MacBook laptop and AirPods, then counted it in front of the cashier. A store manager and cashier also counted the cash. While talking and making eye contact with the cashier, Tomita “covertly” removed $1,900 from the stack of cash and slipped it in his pocket, the complaint said.
An off-duty Edina police detective saw what he believed to be a quick change theft by Tomita and detained him, the complaint said. Later, during his arrest, police found more than $3,000 in $100 bills on him.
Tomita was released from the Hennepin County jail on Aug. 4 after posting $25,000 bond. He skipped out on an Aug. 9 hearing, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest the same day. He remains on the lam.
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