Undocumented Immigrant Who Stole $161,000 from Stores Across the Country Sentenced

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a Romanian national who has repeatedly entered the United States illegally to 27 months in prison for stealing $161,000 from stores across the country with a sleight-of-hand fraud.

Judge Ross also ordered Adrian Stoica, 47, to repay the money.

Stoica conducted at least 170 transactions in stores in 20 states between November 2021 and March 2025. After cashiers scanned merchandise, prepaid gift cards, and electronic money transfers, Stoica would count cash into piles to trick cashiers into believing that he was paying the full price. He collected the piles and then slipped bills from the bottom of the stack into his pocket, short-changing the stores by hundreds of dollars or more in each transaction. Stoica would then move on and victimize a different store. On Feb. 17, 2023, he shortchanged the cashier of a Chesterfield store by approximately $860. On Sept. 7, 2023, his scheme cost a store in O'Fallon, Missouri about $690. The next day, he cost a Fenton store about $660.

Stoica has illegally entered the country three times since 2016. He was ordered removed from the country in May of 2018 and deported in February of 2020. Stoica has used the names Boeri Kvec, Borri Kvec, Boeri Stoica and Adrian Anghel.

Stoica pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to three counts of wire fraud and one count of illegal entry into the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations handled the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Ladendorf prosecuted the case.