QuickTake:

An Aug. 25 court document said a man and woman had been arrested in connection with pickpocketing cases, but by Sept. 3 court records show the federal prosecution as having been terminated. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment, while a legal expert said it's at least possible that charges could yet be filed.

Federal prosecutors halted their case against a pair of Romanian citizens who were allegedly pickpocketing customers at WinCo parking lots, including in Springfield.

It’s a sudden turnabout following an Aug. 25 court filing, which said the man and woman had been arrested. Though no formal charges were yet filed, prosecutors said on Aug. 25 they were ready to move forward with their case.

Now, the court record is blank, except for months-old arrest warrants filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

However, it is unclear whether the suspects are free or in detention for other reasons, as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon declined to comment on the Sept. 3 case termination.

The Aug. 25 motion, filed by prosecutors Scott E. Bradford and Katherine A. Rykken, asked a judge to unseal the criminal complaint in the case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Eugene.

“Arrests as to the defendants … have occurred and release of the complaint is necessary for arraignment and other court purposes,” the Aug. 25 document stated.

No court filings explain the case termination, which also removed from public view the Aug. 25 motion and a criminal complaint outlining allegations of crimes spanning six states in violation of federal laws against fraud, bank fraud and identity theft.

An FBI affidavit — which served as the basis for arrest warrants — stated the pair worked together, spying on customers in grocery store checkout lines to see the personal identification number used in making debit card purchases. WinCo stores do not accept credit card payments.

Customers in parking lots would then be approached with a ruse about dropped money, often a $20 bill, to get them to take out a wallet or purse. The affidavit alleged the use of pickpocket techniques to steal debit cards, with bank surveillance images showing unauthorized ATM withdrawals.

While it’s unclear why the U.S. attorneys dropped the case, a former federal prosecutor, now working as a law professor at Columbia University, said possible reasons include the immigration status of the defendants.

“Were they transferred to immigration custody, dismissal of the complaint would avoid the constraints of the Speedy Trial Act for [criminal] cases,” Daniel Richman, Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, said in an email.

The Speedy Trial Act requires prosecutors to file a formal charge in court within 30 days of arrest.

“It’s also possible that the case fell apart for some reason,” Richman added.

Richman said the man and woman could have instead somehow slipped out of custody — and, in fact, this happened in the case last year, according to the FBI affidavit.

WinCo’s loss prevention team in Temecula, California, arrested the man and woman in November 2024, but jail authorities booked them under the wrong names, and they were released, the affidavit stated.

Investigators then consulted with the Department of Homeland Security and the embassy in Romania to learn their true identities, according to the affidavit.

Richman said it’s “really hard” to speculate on reasons for the halting of the case.

But despite the case being shut down, prosecutors “are free to file [charges] anytime, unless there is an indication that the complaint was dismissed with prejudice,” Richman said. Nothing in the public court record shows any such formal dismissal.