Romanian Man Pleads Guilty for Role in Scheme to Steal Identities of Victims on Public Assistance to Fraudulently Obtain EBT Funds

LOS ANGELES - A Romanian man pleaded guilty today to his role in a scheme that involved using illegal skimmers on ATMs to harvest data, creating counterfeit debit cards using the stolen account holders' information, and then using the cards to make cash withdrawals from numerous victims' accounts.

Sorin-Miguel Ghiorghe, 46, of the Fairfax district of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, and one count of possession of device-making equipment.

Ghiorghe - whom prosecutors believe illegally entered the United States - admitted that he and his accomplices used counterfeit cards to fraudulently make withdrawals from the accounts of numerous victims, and that he specifically used the counterfeit cards to withdraw thousands of dollars from victims' accounts.

According to the indictment, the skimming ring focused on illegally accessing funds administered by the California Department of Social Services to low-income California residents through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) accounts, including CalFresh and CalWorks benefits. When law enforcement searched the apartment Ghiorghe was living in, they located ATM-skimming equipment and EBT account numbers in other peoples' names.

United States District Judge John F. Walter scheduled a January 6, 2025, sentencing hearing, at which time Ghiorghe will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for each bank fraud count, up to 10 years in federal prison for the unauthorized access devices and device-making equipment counts, and a mandatory two-year prison sentence consecutive to his underlying sentence for the aggravated identity theft count.

The United States Secret Service investigated this case and received significant assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Max A. Shapiro of the General Crimes Section is prosecuting this case.