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Poughkeepsie Couple Plead Guilty In Hate Crimes Case

DUTCHESS COUNTY, N.Y. -- A Poughkeepsie couple pleaded guilty Monday to grand larceny as a hate crime for targeting three elderly Flushing women to rob them of their gold necklaces, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.

A Poughkeepsie couple were convicted of hate crimes against elderly women after stealing their gold necklaces.

A Poughkeepsie couple were convicted of hate crimes against elderly women after stealing their gold necklaces.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Marcideza Dumitru, 29, and her husband, Constantin Miclescu, 30, who have been held in jail in lieu of $30,000 and $20,000 bail, since their arrest early last month, were immediately sentenced to nine months in jail, Brown said.

“The three targeted victims were all elderly Asian women aged 68, 79 and 81, who were wearing expensive gold necklaces,” said Brown. “The defendants’ guilty pleas ensure that the victims of their crimes, which were motivated by hate, will receive justice. Hate crimes – whether motivated by age, sexual orientation, gender, religious or ethnic bias – will never be tolerated in Queens County.”

Brown said that, according to the criminal charges, Dumitru approached her victims – all of whom were wearing gold necklaces – on separate occasions in March and April and engaged them in conversation before placing a yellow metal necklace around their necks and then leaving. 

Once she had departed, the victims observed that their gold necklaces were missing from around their necks.

Video surveillance in each incident showed Dumitru speaking with her victims and then getting into the front passenger seat of a vehicle. In the last incident on April 18, Dumitru was seen getting into a gray Infinite QX30, which was rented in her husband name.

During the commission of the crimes, Miclescu was wearing an ICE ankle bracelet equipped with a GPS device. The tracks were subpoenaed by the New York City Police Department’s Financial Crimes Task Force and reviewed, placing Miclescu at each of the crime locations.

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