Thieves posing as police officers sentenced to prison for thefts targeting elderly victims in France

They pretended to be police officers in order to rob their victims, mostly elderly or vulnerable people. Accused of several thefts by false quality committed to the detriment of elderly people throughout France, particularly in the Val-d’Oise, the four thieves aged between 35 and 45, three being from tealwere referred to the Pontoise Criminal Court after a nearly four-year investigation concluded on March 29, 2023.

They were sentenced to five, four and three years in prison. Three of them were imprisoned after the hearing.

Thefts by trickery, a fake Erdf agent and fake police

Investigators from the Departmental Security of Val-d’Oise (Sd) ended up putting an end to the actions of the four criminals in November 2019 after several months of surveillance. “It’s a great deal. One of the biggest fake quality thefts of the year,” said Frederic LauzeSO Val-d’Oise Departmental Security Director (Ddsp 95).

This had started in June 2019, the Sd 95 having been alerted following three incidents with similar operating methods. The thieves’ technique was classic. An individual presented himself at the victim’s door as a earth agent or Veolia under a false pretext. In the process, his accomplices took action. They posed as police explaining that the individual was a crook before asking to enter to check that nothing had been stolen. They took the opportunity to get their hands on valuables, jewelry and money.

To deceive their victims, the latter had the full panoply of members of the police: cards, armbands and police caps, or even walkie-talkies.

Their vehicles spotted

Quickly, the investigators note that the thugs act in groups of two or three using a Audi A3 or a Citroen C5. Over the months, their investigations allow them to impute several dozen facts to the team, including thirteen thefts in Val-d’Oise and ten in Yvelines in the space of a few days. The implementation of physical surveillance in technical research ends up paying off. One of the suspects’ two vehicles is spotted in Sarcelles. The police officers of SD 95, in collaboration with the Research and Intervention Brigade (Bri) of Versailles, place him under surveillance.

€294,690 in cash in the car

On November 28, 2019, while the investigators set up a shadowing, they follow the criminals on a journey through the Seine et Marne and the Loiret. After noting the commission of two acts and two additional attempts, the police proceed to the arrest of the four individuals, not without difficulty, the latter having not hesitated, in an attempt to flee, to crash into a van of the Bri before abandoning their vehicle and continuing their escape on foot before being caught by officials.

In the car, the officials discovered €294,690 in cash while one of the criminals was arrested in possession of €20,300, the money coming from a theft carried out shortly before the arrest. Law enforcement also gets their hands on different police paraphernalia.

Jewellery, luxury bags and grands-crus

During the searches carried out in Sarcelles and Viarmes, the investigators found weapons, a lot of jewelry and €4,700 in small denominations to reach the total amount of €319,690. They also seize bags, clothes, luxury shoes, loot that would have been made during several cargo thefts. Furthermore, wines from grand crus, for example Château-Petruswere also seized.

Heritage Survey

While the four individuals were indicted and imprisoned in various remand centers in Île-de-France, the investigations continued in co-referral with the Gives 95 the regional intervention group which specializes in the fight against the underground economy. He was for his part responsible for investigating the assets of the defendants. The investigation made it possible to attribute to the team more than forty facts spread over the whole of France, as well as to make significant seizures of criminal assets.

Seizures which were kept at the end of the hearing before the criminal court of Pontoise for sale to the estate. The court also ordered the confiscation of two plots; the final seizure of sums present in the bank accounts and the condemnation to fines of 30,000 and 20,000 euros.

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