BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A former Romanian official who’s a naturalized U.S. citizen has been sentenced for breaking into gym lockers to steal credit cards to support his addiction to opioids, New York authorities said Wednesday.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office said George Piha, 51, a former deputy mayor in Romania who lived in New York City, was sentenced Tuesday to two to six years in prison.
Piha admitted to making the thefts from fitness centers in the Buffalo area between February and July. District Attorney John Flynn said Piha used bolt cutters to gain access to lockers and steal credit cards he used to make more than $95,000 in purchases of high-end electronic devices at Apple and Best Buy stores. Flynn said Piha then sold the electronics for cash to support his addiction to opioids.
Piha pleaded guilty in October to identity theft and burglary charges. He faces similar charges involving gym break-ins in the Albany area and is suspected of other break-ins between Albany and Buffalo.
“I know I made horrible mistakes to support my addiction,” Piha said during his sentencing. “And I have to live with it my whole life. And this is much greater than the punishment I get today.”
Flynn said Piha came to the U.S. in 1994 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen three years later. He lived in Queens, where he owned businesses before moving back to Romania in 2005 to care for his ailing father. While in Romania, he started a construction company, was elected deputy mayor of Pantelimon, a suburb of the capital of Bucharest, and made an unsuccessful run for the national parliament, Flynn said.
The district attorney said Piha was injured in a car accident in Romania and became addicted to Oxycotin. He continued to struggle with the addiction when he returned to the U.S. about a year ago and turned to crime to support his habit, Flynn said.
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