The State Police brought in a defendant for property fraud and took a bail of 10,000 leva for him.
This was stated at a joint briefing by the Deputy City Prosecutor of Sofia Desislava Petrova and the Director of the Internal Affairs Directorate Lyubomir Nikolov, who gave details about a case of property fraud against an elderly woman.
"According to us, the perpetrator of the crime was the elderly woman's social assistant. He took care of her because she was unable to take care of herself. On March 17, he took her to a notary's office, without her knowledge where she was going and without her consent, where, under threat of stopping taking care of her, he forced her to transfer two properties in Sofia, including the one she lives in. This property was transferred in exchange for rent and care. She signed a purchase and sale contract for the other property, the price of which was around the property's tax assessment," the SGP spokesperson added.
"On June 2, we received a report of the crime and immediately visited the woman, who suffers from cerebral palsy. The person was charged. Interestingly, this social assistant, employed by a municipal service, has a number of criminal records. I appeal to the municipal services to thoroughly check the criminal history of such individuals. We will provide them with full cooperation. The detainee is 51 years old, with numerous criminal records – distribution of excise goods without a stamp, thefts and traffic fraud. An investigation showed that he had made over 45 real estate transactions in prestigious areas of Sofia. We learned that this man had befriended drug addicts, offered them 1,000 leva each and when the drug addicts' health was failing, he had taken their apartments. We have checked these signals, but unfortunately the drug addicts have not filed complaints. He is the brother of a person wanted by you for armed robbery, who is hiding in a foreign country. I am talking about Ivan Turchina. This is his brother", said the head of the SDVR.
"The signal was not filed by the notary. The whistleblower claims that a large amount of money and jewelry were taken from him, which we were able to find in the accused's apartment. The woman's lawyer filed the signal with us. The woman has difficulty moving and he took her to the notary by car. Currently, all the properties are registered as his, but we will take all necessary actions to have these transactions canceled", Chief Commissioner Nikolov was categorical.
"We cannot reveal details because we will hinder the investigation. When we have concrete results, we will give you more details. The person has been rehabilitated and is currently unconvicted. It has been assessed that there is no danger of him absconding and this is the reason why the measure of detention is a cash bail," concluded Desislava Petrova.