At approximately 11:50 AM on September 26th, 2025, officers from the Woodbury Police Department responded to a report of a robbery which had just occurred in the area of [ADDRESS REDACTED], in the City of Woodbury, within Washington County. Officers spoke with VK (an adult female, fully identified in the reports) who stated that she was walking in the area with her husband when a male driving a dark sedan got out of his vehicle and began to speak with her. The male stated that his father had recently passed away, and it was a cultural custom to give gifts in his honor.
VK told officers that the male then approached her and put a beaded necklace around her neck. The male then began to put a second necklace on her, but the male actually grabbed a gold necklace she had been wearing and forcefully pulled it off her neck. VK's husband attempted to intervene, but the male aggressively pushed him away and fled. Officers learned from local crime alerts that several people in the Twin Cities metro area had been victimized recently in a very similar manner. Utilizing investigation data from those incidents, combined with documents related to rental vehicles (one of which was used on the date in question), officers developed a suspect identified as COMISARU MICLESCU [DOB REDACTED], the defendant, who was part of a ring of Romanian males and females perpetrating these robberies.
Officers prepared a photo lineup which included the defendant and presented it in a double-blind fashion to VK and her husband. Both immediately identified the defendant as the male who took VK's necklace, which was valued at $8,000.00. The defendant is currently in custody in Hennepin County on related charges. A warrant is being requested to secure his appearance in Washington County District Court once he is released.
