Missoula, MT– Romanian woman accused of thefts from jewelry stores in multiple countries and U.S. states pleaded not guilty Monday to stealing a $28,000 diamond from the Southgate Mall in 2022.
Marioara Munteanu, 44, appeared for arraignment before Judge Jason Marks in Missoula County District Court on one charge of felony theft.
On May 25, 2022, Riddle’s Jewelry in Southgate Mall reported that two unknown suspects had purloined a diamond priced at $28,550, charging documents state.
The heist started when a man and a woman entered the store, apparently shopping for jewelry, a store manager stated. They asked to look at the diamond, which was being kept in a clear case, then said they wanted to buy it.
The man handed the manager $10,000 in cash, and she counted it with the diamond placed on a small pillow on the display case. But the “buyers” still needed $18,000, which they said they’d go to the bank to retrieve and come back in 10 minutes.
But the diamond went with them, and the buyers didn’t return. Officers later reviewed video surveillance and saw what seemed to be the woman snatching the diamond and putting it in her purse while her male accomplice distracted a nearby employee. After the two left, Riddle’s employees realized the diamond was missing.
Munteanu wasn’t identified as the suspect until later in the summer, when MPD caught wind through a Border Patrol agent on Aug. 16, 2022, that a San Diego sergeant had flagged the two as Marioara Munteanu and Andrei Sava.
According to the agent, Munteanu was a suspect in jewelry thefts and shoplifting around the world.
She’d apparently also tried to steal from CM Buxton Jewelers in Missoula on the same day she hit Riddle’s, charging documents state, but an employee snatched back the stolen item.
In September 2022, MPD learned that Sava had left the U.S. and Munteanu’s location was unknown to law enforcement. So for years, the case stayed open without a suspect in custody but with a warrant out for Munteanu’s arrest.
Then Munteanu showed up in a Utah court in September 2025, appearing for an alleged jewelry theft in Cache County that occurred about an hour and a half before the Missoula theft.
According to court documents, Munteanu pleaded guilty to one count of felony retail theft in October 2025. Over the next few months, she pleaded guilty to similar crimes in a series of hearings in the Utah legal system.
Now Munteanu is in the Missoula County Jail, with bail set at $25,000. Her next appearance is an omnibus hearing on Dec. 1 at 8:30 a.m.