OMAHA, Neb. — U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Ciprian Amariutei, 37, a Romanian citizen whose address is unknown, was sentenced Aug. 23 in federal court in Omaha for possession of device making equipment with intent to defraud and aggravated identity theft following a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City’s Omaha suboffice investigation. Chief U.S. District Judge Robert F. Rossiter Jr. sentenced Amariutei to 16 months in prison for possession of device making equipment with intent to defraud and a consecutive 24 months in prison for aggravated identity theft. There is no parole in the federal system. After Amariutei’s release from prison, he will begin a two-year term of supervised release.
"Amariutei’s actions were a blatant attempt to undermine trust and security," said HSI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Mark Zito. “HSI, in collaboration with our law enforcement partners, has once again shown our unwavering commitment to protecting the integrity of our financial systems and the personal information of our citizens, which today's sentencing clearly demonstrates. Justice has been rightfully served."
On March 8, Amariutei’s co-defendant, Mona Maria Tataru, 32, also a Romanian citizen, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for possession of device making equipment with intent to defraud and a consecutive 24 months in prison for aggravated identity theft, to be followed by two years of supervised release.
In April 2023, surveillance video showed Amariutei, accompanied by Tataru, placing a skimming device and pinhole camera on an ATM in Omaha. Omaha police officers found the vehicle shown in the video and contacted Amariutei and Tataru at a local motel. Officers located in Amariutei’s and Tataru’s possession more skimming devices and cameras, equipment to generate phony debit and ATM cards, and several cards that had been encoded with stolen bank account information that enabled them to be used as ATM cards. In total, officers located approximately 220 sets of bank account information corresponding to accounts at more than a dozen different banks.
This case was investigated by HSI Omaha and the Omaha Police Department.