In March 2026, police began investigating a fraud after it was reported that several credit cards had been stolen during a locker break-in at a fitness facility located in northeast Edmonton, immediately followed by the use of the stolen cards to make purchases at nearby businesses.
Through the course of the investigation, police determined that three suspects were working in concert, with two suspects allegedly carrying out the locker break-ins, then handing off the stolen credit cards to the third person to make the fraudulent purchases. These three individuals were linked to at least 18 separate occurrences at fitness facilities throughout Edmonton, as well as several in Ontario and Manitoba.
In April 2026, Livia Cozma, 41, Orlando-Constantin Vaduva, 52, and Bogdan Todica, 40 were arrested in Winnipeg, MB. They are now facing a combined total of 59 charges, including multiple counts of theft of credit card, fraud under $5,000 and theft under $5,000.
The total value of the fraudulent purchases in Edmonton alone is estimated to be more than $25,000.
“The EPS would like to thank the Halton Regional Police Service, the Winnipeg Police Service and the Canada Border Services Agency for their assistance in this investigation,” says Cst. Binoy Prabhu, with the EPS Virtual Investigation Unit. “This investigation illustrates our ever-increasing capacity to work across provincial boundaries to locate and charge those who attempt to travel to other jurisdictions to evade local police and continue criminal activity elsewhere.”