A 73-year-old woman was approached outside her Valley Stream home on October 5 by a man and woman who asked for directions to BJ's Wholesale Club — and within moments, police say, she'd been swindled out of a $2,000 gold necklace. Nassau County police have since charged two people in connection with that theft and two similar scams reported over the summer.
According to News12 Long Island, the man and woman pulled up in a gold Mitsubishi and asked the victim for directions. The female passenger then placed two gold-colored necklaces around the woman's neck before making off with her real one, according to the same report.
Police identified the suspects as Mirabela Lacatusu, 26, and Rudi Lacatusu, 28. Both were arrested and charged with three counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, per the outlet's reporting. Under New York law, grand larceny in the fourth degree is classified as a class E felony, according to the New York State Senate.
Two Earlier Incidents Tied to the Same Pair
Investigators linked Lacatusu and Lacatusu to two earlier scams carried out in much the same fashion — one in Franklin Square on August 25 and another in East Meadow the following day, per the same account. Both defendants were issued appearance tickets for court on October 20, the report notes.
Detectives are asking anyone who believes they may have been targeted in a similar scheme to come forward. Police asked potential additional victims to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS, the outlet reported.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Long Island
The Valley Stream case echoes a similar distraction larceny reported in Lynbrook, where a female pedestrian had her 18-karat gold necklace with a diamond pendant taken after two people in a white SUV approached her on a side street around 4:30 p.m., according to a separate News12 report. In that case, the female passenger put a ring on the victim's finger and a necklace around her neck while asking for directions to a grocery store — a strikingly similar setup to the Valley Stream incident. That outlet described the Lynbrook theft as part of an ongoing distraction-larceny pattern reported across Nassau County.
The scheme isn't confined to Long Island, either. In Naperville, Illinois, police said a man lost his own gold chain after accepting two gold-colored necklaces from strangers in a parking lot outside a Patel Brothers grocery store, according to the Chicago Tribune. In that case, a woman distracted the victim by asking for a hug before he realized his chain was gone. Naperville police told the Tribune the scheme typically involves two or more people working together to distract a victim while valuables are taken, and that similar scams have occurred sporadically throughout the region for years, with the department first issuing an alert about it back in 2023.
For now, Nassau County investigators are focused on the Valley Stream case and the two prior incidents allegedly tied to the same suspects. Anyone with information about additional victims is urged to call the tip line police have provided.
