By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, October 28, 1990
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03
Englewood Cliffs police have arrested a Queens, N.Y., couple they suspect of belonging to a group of Soviet emigres who steal designer sunglasses in the United States to sell on Russian black markets.
Eduard Fridman and Victoria Feldmus were being held in the Bergen County Jail on Saturday, each on $6,500 bail. They were charged with shoplifting and possession of four pairs of sunglasses, valued at $996, taken from a store in Fort Lee, said Englewood Cliffs Police Capt. George Kirschbaum.
Kirschbaum said authorities in Union City have an outstanding warrant forFeldmus, 30, on a shoplifting charge.
Police seized from the couple two key rings with about 60 keys for display cases and a notebook containing addresses of optical stores in New York City, eastern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
Kirschbaum said Fridman, 32, and Feldmus are part of a large, well-organized group that ships stolen designer sunglasses to black markets in Russia for sale at more than three times their U.S. retail value.
“I’m sure there are a lot of victims in Bergen County, people who sell designer glasses,” Kirschbaum said, appealing for people to come forward with information. “Right now, if they make bail, they are going to hit the street and disappear. But, if we have more charges, they might panic and rat out their friends. “
Vahe Casparian, the owner of Crystal Optics in Englewood Cliffs, said he called the police when the couple hurriedly left his store Friday after he had become dissatisfied with their answers to his questions. Casparian said he has been wary of walk-in customers since two gunmen came into his store in April, handcuffed him, and stole about $30,000 in merchandise.
Kirschbaum, Patrolman James Rice, and Sgt. Thomas Bauernschmidt arrested the couple as they boarded a New York City taxicab parked across the street from Casparian’s store. Police traced the sunglasses to Sunny Vision at 2500 Lemoine Ave. in Fort Lee.
Sun J. Yoon, who owns the Fort Lee shop, said that when the couple came to his store on Friday, the woman obscured his view while the man, who was eating doughnuts out of a paper bag, roamed the store. The couple then left, he said.
“I turned around and saw the display case was empty,” Yoon said. “Then the Police Department called me and said, `You lost some glasses? “
ID: 17321107 | Copyright © 1990, The Record (New Jersey)
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