A Romanian man has been sentenced to five years in prison and has been ordered to pay over $11 million in restitution related to a card-skimming scheme in Louisiana.
Daniel Iulian Teutoc, also known as “Simon Mikula,” a citizen of Romania, was sentenced on June 4, 2026, in connection with a nine-count indictment against him for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.
Court documents say that Teutoc and others went to Walmart stores across the Eastern District of Louisiana, including Laplace, Slidell, Harvey, Boutte, Chalmette, and New Orleans, and placed card skimmers on point-of-sale machines. The criminals used those card skimmers to clone victims' cards and deplete card balances.
Teutoc and others captured card information at different points of sale, where previously installed card skimming devices had been installed by other members of the conspiracy.
Teutoc and others used magnets to activate the card skimmers and send the card information electronically to their cell phones.
After gaining possession of the Walmart customer credit, debit, and EBT card information, TEUTOC and others sent it to another co-conspirator with the intent to allow members of the conspiracy to make fraudulent charges using the stolen card information.
The crime violates Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1343, 1344, and 1349; conspiracy to commit access device fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 371, 1029(a)(3) and 1029(a)(4); and seven counts of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(3).
A Romanian man was sentenced to 5 years in prison in connection with a 9-count indictment against him for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. The judge also ordered him to pay $11,275,777.90 in restitution:https://t.co/VgLU1XFoVd
— HSI New Orleans (@HSINewOrleans) June 10, 2026
HSI & multiple agencies investigated.
United States District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown sentenced Teutoc to 60 months of incarceration and two years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $11.2 million in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised the work of Homeland Security Investigations, United States Secret Service, New Orleans Police Department, St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office, and St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Paul J. Hubbell of the Narcotics Unit, Nicholas Moses, Deputy Chief of the Public Corruption Unit, and André Jones, lead OCDETF Narcotics Task Force Attorney, are in charge of the prosecution.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).