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Alleged ATM Scammer Swallowed Flash Drive During Arrest
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 3, 2010
Modified Mar 3, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 3, 2010
Modified Mar 3, 2010
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A Long Island City man's daring attempt to destroy evidence after his arrest on January 21st backfired when the evidence—a 4 gigabyte Kingston flash drive—got stuck inside his intestines. Florin Necula was arrested outside a Queens bank for allegedly installing card-readers over A.T.M. slots to steal data (and $35,000). He was taken to a Secret Service office in Brooklyn, where he and several co-defendants were to be processed. But while there, and in full view of investigators, Necula "grabbed Subject Flash Drive 2, which had been on his person at the time of his arrest, and swallowed," according to court papers obtained by The Smoking Gun.
And Necula might have gotten away with it too, had his stomach acids been up to the task of digesting the flash drive. But after four days, Necula was unable to pass the item and consented to surgery when doctors warned him it could obstruct his colon. Now he's charged with obstruction of justice, among other things—and after all that, a lab technician was still able to retrieve the information from the flash drive, the Post reports. His lawyer Sanford Talkin tells the Daily News he may file a motion to suppress the evidence because "they didn't have a right to take it from him."
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atm
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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