Two men were behind bars Wednesday facing hate-crime allegations stemming from attempts to allegedly extort immigrants by posing as federal agents, according to prosecutors.
Laurentiu Baceanu, who will turn 21 on July 3, and Alexandru Vasile, 19, are charged with 11 felony counts of robbery with sentencing enhancements for a hate crime. The two pleaded not guilty Monday.
The two, who are from Romania, are accused of posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and threatening to jail their victims if they didn’t give them money or debit cards, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors alleged hate crimes because the defendants are suspected of targeting Latinos because of their fear of being deported.
The defendants, who have been denied bail, allegedly have ties to organized crime in Romania, prosecutors said. They are also facing robbery charges in Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, prosecutors said.
On June 8, the two were accused of taking $380 in cash and an ID card from a vendor selling food in Tustin, prosecutors said.
On June 15, the two allegedly posed as FBI agents looking for a missing person. According to prosecutors, they demanded ID from a father and son and then questioned whether the father and son’s money was counterfeit. The victims grew suspicious and called police, but the suspects still managed to take some of their money before fleeing, prosecutors said.
That same day, a man riding his bike home from work was robbed by the suspects, who threatened to deport him, prosecutors said.
Another victim reported being robbed in Westminster on June 18 by suspects posing as ICE agents, and that same day a woman said she had about $800 taken from her by suspects claiming to be immigration officials, prosecutors said.
Another robbery of three men happened by fake agents at a Home Depot parking lot in Anaheim on June 20, prosecutors said. Another man was robbed of $600 in the same manner a short time later in the city, prosecutors said.
Vasile’s attorney, Alberto Algaze, declined comment until he spoke with his client first. Baceanu’s attorney, Michael Flory, also declined comment, saying he intended to declare a conflict and that another attorney would be taking over.