Quick-thinking neighbour praised as gang who preyed on elderly jailed

Two men and two women from Leeds have been jailed for more than 26 years for a series of burglaries in North and East Yorkshire.

- by Dennis Morton

The group-Levantica Dragusin, 30, of Edgware Street, Harehills; and Monika Dumitra, 24, Ion Paun, 29, and Zavaian Paun, 32, all of Edgware Place, Harehills-stole from older and vulnerable people in their 80s and 90s, taking advantage of their trust.

They committed their crimes by traveling together by car, with Dragusin and Ion Paun acting as drivers. The men would drop Dumitra and Zavaian Paun at targeted locations, where the women, dressed in NHS-style clothing, called at the homes of older people, posing as trainee doctors and requesting sponsorship for a fictitious medical school.

Once inside their homes, one of the women would ask to use the toilet, then search the house for cash and valuables while her accomplice distracted the victim.

They would then leave with their haul and be picked up by the two men who drove them to their next victim.