On 07/11/2025, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Detectives began an investigation regarding a vehicle fraud scheme involving a 2011 Toyota Tundra VIN 5TFUYSF11BX167176. Detectives learned from a St. Croix County Sheriff's Office Investigator that a victim [NAME REDACTED] had sold his vehicle for a price lower than listed after he had been manipulated by the suspects. The victim had listed his vehicle for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $9,000.00 and the three suspects arrived at his house to inspect the vehicle prior to purchasing it.
After taking the vehicle for a test drive, the suspects noted there was oil in the radiator-and surmised that there was a serious engine leak. This information caused the victim to believe his vehicle needed major repairs. The seller agreed to sell the vehicle to the suspects for a discounted price of $5,200.00 in cash. The suspects then left with the vehicle. The seller reviewed video from his home security system and saw the suspects distract him while another opened the radiator and poured oil into the radiator to create the appearance of serious underlying engine issues, resulting in the discounted vehicle price.
The victim located his vehicle being resold on Facebook Marketplace due to unique characteristics of the front bumper, a wooden box drawer system in the bed of the vehicle, and the faded sticker on the back of the topper from Kelly Farms. St. Croix County Sheriff's Office passed that information along to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Criminal Intelligence Division along with the suspect's listing of the vehicle for sale. The current listing was being sold by a Facebook account with the username 'Sumy Alex". CID was able to locate a possible address for the vehicle and Auto Theft Detectives found a similar vehicle parked at [ADDRESS REDACTED] North, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.
Detectives were able to confirm the Toyota Tundra parked at [ADDRESS REDACTED] North was the same 2011Toyota Tundra sold by the victim bearing the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) STFUYSF11BX167176. Auto Theft Detectives recovered the vehicle on behalf of the St. Croix County Sheriff's Office and noted the odometer currently displayed 128,343 miles. Detectives were informed that the vehicle had 238,939 miles on the odometer at the time it was sold by the victim. Detectives spoke with and identified two individuals on the property: -Alexandru-Vasile Alexandru ([DOB REDACTED]) -Antonio Alexandru ([DOB REDACTED]) Both provided Romanian passports as their form of identification.
The photo from Alexandru-Vasile Alexandru's passport matched the photos of the male on the "Sumy Alex" Facebook account currently selling the vehicle. Several other vehicles located at the address appeared in the process of being sold or were recently sold, due to the apparent look of cleaning and staging of the vehicles, which many sellers will do prior to selling their vehicles. Detectives recorded multiple license plates found at the address, including a 2005 gold Toyota Sienna (SCX137) and a 2016 white Ford FlS0 (SCJ958). While speaking to the males on scene, Detectives learned that the males earned money by selling custom balloons in Florida to tourists.
