Fraud Charge Names Mother of Gunman

The mother of a gunman who was killed in the 1997 North Hollywood bank shootout has been charged with welfare fraud, based on information discovered in the aftermath of the gun battle.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Valerie Nicolescu of Pasadena this week on suspicion of fraudulently collecting another woman’s Social Security benefits from 1993 until soon after the robbery.

As Los Angeles police looked for evidence related to her son, Emil Matasareanu, 30, and a second gunman, they found a mentally retarded woman in Nicolescu’s custody, locked in a dark, foul, boarded-up building in Pasadena.

Nicolescu was arrested and in 1998 pleaded no contest to charges of endangering the health of the woman, Georgia Mayo. Nicolescu was sentenced to the 10 months she had served in the county jail.

Meanwhile, that case had led investigators to learn that Nicolescu had collected benefits not only for Mayo but for a second woman, Elena Pietrzik, according to police and federal investigators.

The new federal indictment relates to Pietrzik, an immigrant who worked at the board and care facility Nicolescu once owned.

In May 1993, Nicolescu applied to receive Social Security benefits for Pietrzik, declaring that she was her designated payee because Pietrzik was unable to care for herself, the indictment says. However, Pietrzik had left the country that month, according to the document.

Two years later, Nicolescu again filed a report with the Social Security Administration saying Pietrzik continued to live with her, the indictment says.

The federal government paid Nicolescu at least $37,000 from 1993 to March 1997, according to the document.

State and federal officials have acknowledged a problem with a system in which the state licenses board and care facilities and the federal government issues residents’ benefits to operators. State officials had pulled Nicolescu’s board and care license, but she allegedly continued getting Mayo’s and Pietrzik’s Social Security checks.

Pasadena police said they initiated a missing person investigation for Pietrzik after discovering the Social Security checks and her driver’s license in Nicolescu’s possession. Pasadena Police Cmdr. Rick Law said the department never located her.

Nicolescu, who also goes by Valerie Nicolescu Matasareanu, has been summoned to appear March 25 in U.S. District Court, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. She could not be reached for comment.