AROUND TOWN:Three plead not guilty to identity theft, credit fraud

Three men suspected of making a number of purchases with fraudulent credit cards in South Coast Plaza pleaded not guilty Monday to 42 charges of credit fraud, identify theft, commercial burglary and forgery, Orange County prosecutors said.

Costa Mesa Police arrested Cristian Manolache, 31, of Las Vegas; Florian Boldoni, 27, of Fountain Valley; and Dan Bercean, 27, of Peoria, Ariz., Thursday night as they drove out of the center’s parking lot, police said.

Between Aug. 7 and Aug. 9 Manolache, Boldoni and Bercean made several purchases with forged credit cards at Sephora, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores in the center, prosecutors said.

The trio fled Bloomingdale’s to a car waiting for them in the lot when they felt their transaction dragged on for too long, police said Friday. Officers pulled them over and saw the men trying to hide several credit cards, police said. Inside the car police found roughly 30 counterfeit cards, according to authorities.

Investigators are working to determine if there’s any connection to the identity thefts at Arco gas stations in Costa Mesa, police said.

Anyone with information relating to this case is asked to contact Det. Eugene Kim at (714) 754-5364.

— Kelly Strodl