News

The Omsk Region Office of the Investigative Committee has finished the investigation against Lyubov and Sergei Meshcheryakov, Mikhail Ponamaryov and members of an organized group which included Vladislab Yakovlev, Vladimir Martyanov, Aron Amirzhanov, Viktoriya Fedorenko and Dinara Maltseva charged with crimes under Part 4, item “a” and Part 3, item “c” of Article 158 (theft), Parts 2, 3 and 4 of Article 159 (fraud), Part 2, items “a”, “c” and “d” of Article 163 (extortion) and Part 2, items “a” and “e” of Article 127 of the RF Penal Code (illegal deprivation of liberty).

According to investigators, in the period between July 2014 and January 2016, the accused acting as two criminal groups stole money multiple times from personal bank accounts of the inmates of children’s homes. In all they committed 15 crimes against 12 victims and stole 4.5 million rubles.

The two groups had similar schemes. Ponamaryov, 24, who had previous convictions of thefts, offered Meshcheryakov whom he knew from an orphanage, to steal money from deposits of underage inmates of children’s homes which the inmates could use only when they came of age. To do that they persuaded Meshcheryakov’s wife, 31 who worked as deputy manager of a bank district office to help them by making bank cards and other transactions related to the accounts of the inmates. Meshcheryakov’s wife abused her power and changed inmate’s dates of birth in bank papers. She gave bank cards to her husband who together with Ponamaryov stole money from the orphans’ accounts by transferring and cashing it. Members of the other organized group led by 23-year-old Yakovlev used the same scheme. Yakovlev, who had previous convictions for thefts and frauds, had acquainted with 19-year-old inmate of a children’s home Fedorenko and involved her, two more former inmates Martyanov, 19 and Amirzhanov, 20, and later 26-year-old bank clerk Dinara Maltseva into criminal activity. Namely, Fedorenko, Martyanov and Amirzhanov looked for potential clients among inmates of a children’s home, deceived them and brought to Yakovlev, who then persuaded them to make a bank card and with an active mobile banking app. Sometime later the victims discovered that all the money had been withdrawn from their bank accounts. The accused stole passports from two of the victims to make bank cards and draw out their money. They held one of the victims, who celebrated his 18^th birthday in Omsk, in a flat. They beat him, threatened and denuded to give them 100,000 rubles. When he finally told them his PIN code, they took his bank card and withdrew all the money he had.

The accused divided the stolen money among them and spend on their own needs, mainly on parties. Only Yakovlev bought a flat and a Honda car. Following the request of investigators, a court ruled to arrest Yakovlev’s flat and the car of Meshcheryakov’s wive in order to guarantee reimbursement of the damage. Yakovlev was placed in detention pending trial, while others were released on recognizance considering their positions during the preliminary investigation and their roles in the crimes. A request was sent to a bank manager to eliminate causes and conditions that had contributed to the crimes. The criminal activity of the accused was broken up by officers of the Omsk Region police department.

The investigators have enough evidence, so the criminal case has been sent for the indictment to be approved and to be then referred to court.