ST. GEORGE — A couple accused of selling fake jewelry for thousands of dollars under the guise of making enough money to return home to Dubai was arrested in Hurricane Tuesday after the buyer became suspicious once the money changed hands, authorities say.
A Southern California couple, Marius Buse and Violeta Buse, both 23, were arrested in the parking lot of a credit union on State Street in Hurricane and transported to jail each facing two third-degree felony counts of theft-deception charges, according to charging documents filed in 5th District Court in St. George.
The arrests stem from an incident that began with a call to emergency dispatch reporting a fraud in progress. Officers arrived and spoke to the reporting party who said the couple had sold him several pieces of jewelry that reportedly turned out to be fake, as well as a watch that also turned out to be a counterfeit.
The caller encountered the couple in the parking lot of one of the convenience stores in LaVerkin when they struck up a conversation with the caller who said they told him they were Romanian nationals visiting the area with their infant daughter and said they needed money so they could return to their home in Dubai.
The caller also said both suspects “frequently mentioned their young daughter when speaking of the need for money” and asked the caller to purchase items for them. The male suspect started to remove several pieces of gold-colored jewelry he was wearing, including a necklace, bracelet and a ring, followed by the wife, who also removed a gold-colored ring from her finger that was inset with what appeared to be diamonds.
The caller also said the couple reportedly said the items were for sale, claiming the jewelry was valued at more than $6,000. The man also brought out what the suspect claimed was a Rolex worth $10,000.
The reporting party told the suspects he wanted to purchase the items but said he needed to go to the bank in Hurricane first. As he did so, he said the suspects followed behind in their vehicle.
It was while paying the couple that he noticed the license plate on the couple’s vehicle was bent upwards, which partially concealed the plate number, and he became suspicious and called police.
While waiting, the complainant took the jewelry to a local pawn shop, which is when he learned that none of the items were what they were purported to be, and the jewelry, including the watch, turned out to be fake. The pawn individual told him they would pay “approximately $6 for the Rolex-type watch the suspects had said was worth $10,000,” the officer noted.
The suspects were still in the parking lot of the bank when the officers arrived on scene, and when they attempted to question Violeta Buse, she declined to speak to police without an attorney present, the affidavit states.
Marius Buse, on the other hand, agreed to speak to investigators and said it was the victim who approached him in the parking lot and asked if he could buy the necklaces the suspect was wearing.
The suspect went on to tell officers that he sold the necklaces to the caller for $1,200 and then admitted the items were not real gold but stated the Rolex watch was real, the officer noted in the report.
Marius Buse also told police that he sold the watch and the necklaces to the caller for $3,000 in cash, all of which was still inside his vehicle, the suspect said.
During a search of the car the suspects were driving, officers located an envelope imprinted with the name of the bank on the front that matched the information provided by the caller, and inside they found $5,000 in $100 bills – which also matched the amount paid in the denominations the caller reported paying for the jewelry.
Officers recovered a bag containing numerous jewelry items that were consistent with the items that later turned out to be fake, police say, along with several fake Rolex watches that were wrapped in a baby diaper.
While speaking to police, Marius Buse told officers that he and his wife were seeking asylum from Romania, but when asked for their address, the suspect reportedly provided an address in Southern California that turned out to belong to one of the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles in Santa Ana, a suburb about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
Both suspects were arrested and transported to jail in Washington County. During the booking process, the jail staff removed several pieces of jewelry from Violeta Buse that matched the items that were reportedly offered for sale to the caller, along with a “large amount of cash” that was hidden on her person.
Hurricane Police officer Dan Raddatz told St. George News that following the arrests, officers reached out to the Division of Child and Family Services, and the infant was picked up by a social worker that will arrange for the child’s care while the suspects are in custody.
Raddatz went on to say that Tuesday’s incident was not an isolated incident, as there have been similar cases reported up north, and several months ago they had a case in Hurricane with several similarities.
The officer also requested that both suspects be held without bail, citing that neither resided in Utah. They reportedly provided an address in Southern California that turned out to be one of the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles in Santa Ana. Officers later determined the suspects were from San Bernardino County in California.
The order was signed and both suspects remain in custody without bail.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.