A man has been arrested in Petaluma after scamming a missing elderly man with fake jewelry. On May 16th, officers were asked to locate a missing person who was thought to be at the Trader Joe’s parking lot in Petaluma and that someone was trying to sell the missing 85-year-old man jewelry. Police found the missing man’s vehicle but he was not with it. Eventually the man returned to his vehicle with fake jewelry. The man had driven around with the suspect, later identified as Florian Matei, withdrawing over $4,000 from banks and a casino to buy the jewelry. Matei was found on June 7th at the same shopping center and arrested without incident for Felony Financial Elder Abuse.
