Serial shoplifter who stole £78,000 of items across country caught in Yorkshire

In August last year, officers from Humberside Police Roads Crime Team were alerted to a vehicle being driven into our area by a man who was believed to be connected to a shop theft from a store in Market Weighton.

Officers stopped the vehicle and the driver, and upon searching the vehicle, a number of suspected stolen items worth an estimated £1,333 were recovered.

Andrei-Theodor Cretu, 27, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of shop theft and taken into custody.

After interviewing Cretu in custody, further information came to light around the level of his offending, and he was further arrested in connection with a shop theft in Beverley, and one in Southend on Sea. The estimated value of the stolen items totalled over £2,600.

As a result, Cretu, of Bramston Road in London was charged and pleaded guilty to all three offences and was sentenced to 16 months in prison following his appearance at Hull Crown Court in January of this year, meaning he will spend a total of two years and four months behind bars before being deported upon conclusion of his sentence.

Cretu pleaded guilty to 15 counts of attempted shop theft at an earlier hearing at Hull Crown Court in March.

He was sentenced to a further 12 months behind bars at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday May 6.

Whilst Cretu was in prison, a further investigation into his offending was launched after more information was received from other police forces about the nature of Cretu’s crimes, and the possibility that he was working as part of a wider organised crime group operating across the country.

In collaboration with police forces across the country, trawling hundreds of hours of CCTV and speaking to business owners, Cretu was identified as repeatedly targeting the same franchise over a 16-month period between April 2023 and August 2024.

Cretu was seen on CCTV entering the stores and taking items from beauty and shaving products to toothbrushes, nappies, razor blades, and HP printer ink.

He would then conceal them within a trolley or bag before attempting to exit the shop.

Cretu was subsequently further arrested in prison on suspicion of 17 counts of shop theft in October last year.

Elena Gugulan, 30, of Colena Close in Coventry was also sentenced to three years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to 31 counts of shop theft and one attempted shop theft for her involvement in connection with this investigation at Hull Crown Court in March.

Police Constable Elijah Hartley leading the investigation said: “The result we’ve seen in court today is a reflection of the close working relationships and collaboration we have with our colleagues from multiple different police forces across the country.

“Around 23 police force areas were affected by Cretu’s serial shop lifting sprees, and a pattern of serious organised acquisitive crime offences were identified where the same franchise was being targeted by the same man with the same MO.

“Cretu acted with no regard for the impact his actions had on staff members and business owners across the country.

“Shop theft is not a low-level crime; it affects businesses, customers, retail staff, and even wider communities, and as we have seen here, it can also be part of a wider network of criminality where items are sold on all for the sake of financial greed.

“Shop lifting remains a priority for our force and Neighbourhood Policing teams along with national organised crime group teams work hard with communities, shops, and businesses to reduce this type of offending.

“Crimes of this nature will not be tolerated, and we will do everything we can to ensure our communities and businesses feel safe, and criminals like Cretu are held accountable for their actions.”