A 23-year-old woman is in custody for her alleged role in what prosecutors call a "sleight of hand" quick change scheme targeting retailers across the Twin Cities and the entire country.
The criminal complaint against 23-year-old Baronita Rostas charges her with one count of felony by swindle, but the Hennepin County Attorney's office says the investigation into her activities is continuing and more charges could be forthcoming. Prosecutors allege that between March 14 and July 27, she was responsible for retail losses of at least $6,280. The case involves multiple law enforcement agencies from across the metro.
Court documents say the investigation began in June of 2023 when agents with the Minnesota Department of Commerce Fraud Bureau were contacted by crime investigators from TJX Companies, which own and operate T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Homegoods, Sierra, and other retail stores around the country. They shared information about a Romanian organized crime group involved in “quick change” or “sleight of hand” distraction thefts occurring at retail stores all around the U.S. and Minnesota, a group that reportedly included Baronita Rostas.
Here's how investigators say the scheme works.
- Crime ring member enters the Register Queue of a store with selected merchandise.
- That person approaches a Register with a cashier identified as vulnerable, presents the selected merchandise for purchase and begins to converse with the cashier.
- Person displays multiple stacks of $100.00, made up of $20.00 bills.
- That person retrieves the money for a “re-count,” then strategically places a finger within the stack of U.S. currency and asks the cashier for the total amount due from the register screen.
- While the cashier is looking at the screen, the crook conducts a sleight-of-hand maneuver and removes a portion of the money from the counted-out pile and pockets it.
- Person provides the remainder of the U.S. currency to the cashier and takes full possession of the bills removed from the stack during the sleight of hand scheme.
- The schemer receives the proper amount of change based on the original transaction, collects the receipt from the cashier and takes possession of the merchandise.
- Crook exits the store and later returns the merchandise at a different store for its full value.
The bottom line? The sleight of hand specialist pockets not only the money slipped from the pile of cash before purchase, they also keep all the proceeds of a return.
“This is a complex case, involving several agencies and a significant amount of work,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “This sort of high-volume, organized fraud has a significant impact on businesses and their employees and ultimately impacts all of us through higher prices. We take this crime seriously and will aggressively prosecute those responsible.”
Rostas was located and arrested late last week by St. Louis Park police, but authorities say she has executed the scheme in Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Dakota counties (at a minimum) in addition to retailers in North Carolina and Iowa. Prosecutors say each fraudulent transaction was documented on surveillance video and/or through store transaction details.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says corporate loss investigators and an international criminal analyst who has been documenting the Romanian criminal organization for several years show that Rostas has engaged in the quick change scheme around the United States since at least 2018.
Baronita Rostas will make her first court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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