Jewelry forcibly taken from elderly victims during Scarborough distraction thefts, police say

Three of four suspects arrested in connection with an investigation into distraction style robberies are shown. (Toronto Police Service)

Toronto police have arrested four people in connection with a pair of robberies in Scarborough in which elderly victims were given fake jewelry as a distraction while their real jewelry was forcibly taken.

The first incident happened near Lawrence Avenue and Scarborough Golf Club Road at around 6 p.m. on April 22.

Police say that three suspects were operating a grey Dodge Journey in the area when they approached an elderly woman and used force to put fake jewelry on her hand while removing her gold wedding ring.

The suspects fled the scene but were located nearby and taken into custody, police say.

Investigators subsequently obtained judicial authorization to execute search warrants at several addresses connected to the suspects. During the execution of those search warrants, police seized fake costume jewelry that is believed to have been used “for the purpose of facilitating robberies” as well as other jewelry believed to have been taken from additional victims.

Police say that during the execution of the search warrants, one additional suspect was also identified in relation to another robbery that took place days prior in the Conlins and Ellesmere roads area of Scarborough.

In that incident, three suspects approached an elderly man and began asking him for directions and praying for him.

One of the suspects then used force to remove the man’s gold chain necklace and replace it with two fake chains and a ring, police say.

Police say that they believe there may be additional victims who have been targeted by the group and are urging anyone with information to come forward.

The suspects taken into custody in connection with the investigation are as follows:

• Banana Lacatus, 32, of Toronto
• Ion Miclescu, 26, of Toronto,
• Elena Costantin, 20, of Toronto
• Surbu Constantin, 40, of Toronto

For a full list of the charges they are facing follow this link.