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hotrodlincoln
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Joined: 08 Apr 2003
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Location: Not in Austin anymore
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 Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:21 pm Post subject: 3 employees jailed for stealing & selling parts |
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Lawyer: 2005 thefts uncovered after anonymous e-mail to Michael Dell.
By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Three former Dell Inc. employees were sentenced to federal prison Friday for a 2005 conspiracy that involved stealing about $500,000 worth of computer processors from the company's Round Rock plant and reselling them.
The men pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Austin this year after their scheme was discovered in 2005. A lawyer for one of the men said during their sentencing hearings in U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel's court Friday that someone sent an anonymous e-mail to Michael Dell that told the chief executive of the thefts.
Technical support employee Scotty Ray Traw, 26, of Round Rock said in court documents that he organized the conspiracy by recruiting two others — Benito Morales III, 24, of Austin and Maurice Smith, 24, of Pflugerville — to take the processors.
Through an Internet auction Web site, Traw sold some of the more than 100 stolen Intel Xeon processors, he admitted in court documents. Later, Traw directly sent the processors to a buyer in California. Traw used about $17,000 of his take to buy a used Lexus, the documents said.
Yeakel sentenced Traw to 21 months in prison for conspiracy and engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. Morales and Smith received 12 months and one day each for conspiracy.
Yeakel also ordered the men to together pay Dell about $450,000 in restitution. Some of the proceeds from the crimes have already been recovered by authorities.
None of the men had previous criminal convictions.
Each sentence was at the lower end of a range recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. Yeakel gave the men credit for cooperating with authorities. Yeakel had to consider the guidelines but was not obligated to follow them. Lawyers for Traw and Smith asked for probation.
Morales said he deserved prison.
"I agree with the guidelines," he said. "I am ready and willing to face that. ... This day couldn't come any sooner."
Morales said he had a brief lapse of judgment and apologized to his family, friends and fellow Dell employees who might have suffered from the loss because of profit-sharing agreements at the company. His friends described him as a changed man since the thefts.
Traw said he was single and living in a one-room apartment when he committed his crime. He said he is now married with a child and looks at the world differently.
Smith's lawyer said Smith committed the crime in part to help his family deal with $80,000 in legal fees following his older brother's felony conviction.
"I know what I did was wrong," Smith said. "I let down my family and friends."
skreytak@statesman.com; 512-912-2946
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http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/05/10/0510dell.html |
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Rocke_T_Sinetist
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Joined: 26 Aug 2005
Posts: 2609
Location: DFW airport
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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Soooo, Mikey DOES read his email! He only reacts to it though, when there's money in it for him. Guess we coulda seen that coming.
Our lab was across the hall from Dell's internal 'loss-mitigation' investigators. Seldom did a week go by without them pulling up in a truck full of stolen servers they got out of someone's apartment. The office was secured, I was only in it once, and it was so chock-full of stolen stuff you could barely walk through it. I think they used the office as an 'evidence locker' until the cases went to trial.
Internal fraud is rampant within Dell. That's how people get charged on their DFS for things they never ordered, among other things. And a compelling reason NOT to do business with Dell, as they take and keep enough of your personal information to steal your identity.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...' |
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