COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. -- A man accused of stealing $13,000 worth of jewelry from a Naples store earlier this year has been arrested by federal officials in California after getting tips from overseas.
The suspect is reportedly a member of an organized crime group known for distraction thefts in Romania and the United Kingdom.
It all started in February, when a man was viewing items at Neil's Jewellry and Exchange in Naples. The man told employees he was short on cash and had to run to the bank. Instead, he had pocketed $13,000 worth of jewelry and never came back.
Two months later, a tip from the United Kingdom helped deputies to identify the suspect as 25-year-old Nikolae Anghel.
Deputies investigated Anghel’s Facebook page under an alias he was using online and found that the day before the Naples crime, Anghel posted a video of himself wearing the same purple shirt he was seen wearing in surveillance footage at Neil’s Jewellery and Exchange.
Witnesses were later able to identify Anghel in a photo lineup.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took Anghel into custody July 27 in San Bernardino, California and agreed to extradite Anghel to Collier County.
