Two arrested in Hemet for soliciting money to pay for phony funeral

Two people were arrested in Hemet this week for allegedly soliciting money to pay for the phony funeral of a 10-year-old boy, police said. 

It happened on Sunday a little after noon, at which point officer were dispatched to the intersection of Sanderson Avenue and Stetson Avenue after being notified of "panhandlers walking in and out of traffic," said a post on Facebook from the Hemet Police Department. 

They were holding a sign requesting money to help pay for the funeral of a 10-year-old boy named Alex, claiming that the child had died in a car accident. 

"Via cameras, officers were able to identify the vehicle that the subjects got into and watched it leave the scene, while counting the money they had collected," the post said. "Officers then located the vehicle in the 100 block of N. Sanderson Ave. and conducted a traffic stop."

They questioned both the driver, identified as Marius Stan, the passenger Malvina Stan, who gave conflicting statements "as to who the child on their poster was and where he had died."

Police determined that they were collecting money from other people on false pretenses, and through further investigation found an article from a Romanian news site in 2011 that had the same image of a child they were using on their poster. That news story said that the child in question was missing for a day but found at a local park, not involved in any traffic incident. 

"Several different identifications, EBT cards, passports, and other evidence were located, further confirming their schemes," police said. 

They were both arrested and booked at a Riverside County Jail. It's unclear what charges they face.