ST. LOUIS – A Romanian national appeared in federal court Tuesday to be sentenced for a sleight-of-hand scheme targeting stores in the St. Louis area and elsewhere across the country.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Adrian Stoica, 47, pleaded guilty in September 2025 to three counts of wire fraud and one count of illegal entry into the United States.
Since 2016, Stoica entered the country illegally three times. He was ordered to be removed from the country in May 2018 and finally deported in February 2020. Prosecutors said Stoica used the aliases Boeri Kvec, Borri Kvec, Boeri Stoica, and Adrian Anghel.
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Stoica previously admitted to carrying out at least 170 transactions at stores in 20 states from November 2021 to March 2025…