Romanian ATM fraudsters jailed

An illustration of one of the Romanian fraudsters.

The Observer

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THREE Romanian fraudsters, who ripped of more than $20,000 from unsuspecting Grafton and Coffs Harbour shoppers, will be in jail until next year.

Margareta Dobrica, 34, Nicu Lixandru, 27, and Didina Petre, 33, appeared via video link to the Grafton Local Court yesterday to be sentenced on a total of 110 charges arising from the theft of credit cards and their subsequent use to take money from people's accounts.

The charges were relayed to the three offenders through an interpreter who had been brought to the court, but after difficulty getting translations to the three Romanians, Magistrate Kim Pogson, read through his summary and sentences and asked that they be relayed later.

He said it would have taken an inordinate amount of the court's time for his entire summary to be translated and relayed.

Mr Pogson told the offenders the maximum penalty for some of their offences was 15 years in jail.

But he also told them that the maximum that could be imposed through the local courts was two years jail.

He said they were entitled to a discount in their sentence because they had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Licandru will be due for release on August 19, 2010; Dobrica on August 21, 2010, and Petre on March 29, 2010.

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