San Jose police arrested two people and seized evidence from several alleged crimes during an investigation into Romanian organized crime last week.
At about noon Wednesday, officers served multiple search warrants in San Jose and Livermore in connection with roughly 25 separate crimes associated with an organized crime ring that was operating from July to October, according to San Jose police.
The alleged crimes include carjacking, armed robbery, strong-arm robbery and grand theft, police said.
During the searches, officers found $13,000 in cash, along with three vehicles and possible evidence of jewelry swap scams.
The suspects, 35-year-old Margos Constantin and 19-year-old Renaldo Vaduva, were arrested in San Jose on suspicion of robbery, armed carjacking and grand theft, according to police.
Jewelry swap scammers typically target elderly East Asian or Indian people by placing fake jewelry on a victim before taking real jewelry that the victim was wearing.
"SJPD has also linked this organization to armed carjackings, armed robberies, burglaries, home invasions, strong arm robbery/chain snatch robberies, Facebook marketplace vehicle scams, grand theft of jewelry and purses, Organized Retail Theft, credit card/atm cash-out fraud, and other various types of thefts and scams where they attempt to sell people items or fake gold jewelry," San Jose police said in a news release Friday.
Anyone with information can contact Detective Grodin at 408-277-4166 or 4591@sanjoseca.gov or send tips to the P3TIPS mobile app, call a tip line at 408-947-STOP or visit www.siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
