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Couple Plead Guilty In NYC Forced-Begging Case

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Jan 4, 2008 9:03 am US/Eastern

Couple Plead Guilty In NYC Forced-Begging Case

Crina And Stelian Baicu Face Up To 1 Year In Prison, Deportation

NEW YORK (AP) ― A Romanian couple accused of turning a teenage baby sitter and other immigrants into a team of street beggars is facing prison time and deportation after pleading guilty to a lesser offense, one of their lawyers said.

Crina and Stelian Baicu entered guilty pleas last month in U.S.  District Court in Brooklyn to conspiring to bring an alien into the country illegally, court records show. No sentencing date has been set.

The Baicus may be sentenced to up to a year in prison but may get credit for the time they have served since their arrests in July, said Harry C. Batchelder Jr., a lawyer representing Crina Baicu. Batchelder said both Baicus face deportation after serving any sentences.

A spokesman for federal prosecutors declined to comment. A recorded message said Stelian Baicu's lawyer, Mildred Whalen, was out of the office Friday. She did not immediately return a telephone message early Friday.

In a sworn statement filed in June, FBI Special Agent Evan Nicholas said the Baicus arranged in late 2003 or early 2004 to have a 17-year-old Romanian girl flown to Mexico and then smuggled into the U.S. on foot, ostensibly to work as a baby sitter in their Queens home.

When she arrived, the Baicus forced the teen—identified only as Jane Doe—to join a group of disabled Romanian men to panhandle on street corners for about 12 hours a day, Nicholas wrote. The couple took all of the $400 to $500 a day the girl collected, the agent said.

"The Baicus instructed Jane Doe to pretend that she was disabled and even taught her how to limp convincingly," Nicholas wrote.

The scheme was transported to Maryland for a time in 2005 or 2006, continuing until the Baicus said they were returning to Romania and the girl went back to Queens, according to Nicholas.  The Baicus confronted her in Queens in May and demanded that she leave with them, beating her and pulling out her hair when she refused, the agent wrote.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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