Three admit selling $550,000 in contraband

 

Three men pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia to selling almost $550,000 worth of stolen merchandise on eBay.

Evan F. Appel, 34, of Philadelphia; Nathan Allen Kriegler, 43, of Holland, Bucks County; and Ryan A. Pollack, 34, of Elkins Park, made fraudulent payments to 19 companies for items including laptop computers, printers, scanners, and televisions, then sold the merchandise on eBay, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Kriegler was also charged with theft of government property, wire fraud, and bank fraud in connection with additional schemes.

Kriegler faces a maximum sentence of 190 years in prison, a $3.75 million fine, and restitution to companies and banks.

Appel and Pollack each face a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison, a $1.25 million fine, and restitution. The three are scheduled to be sentenced in February.

- Allison Steele

Police say man sold stolen laptops on eBay

Posted: Thursday, November 4, 2010 12:42 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, November 4, 2010 12:42 PM EST

Warriors Mark man reports eBay fraud case

 

A Warriors Mark man who sold his $528 snowboard on eBay reported it stolen after the person who bought it received a refund, but instead of returning the snowboard sent the victim a wooden shelf, state police at Philipsburg said.

More ebaY designer lady's purse fraud.

U.S. v. BAIRD

Former reservist sentenced for selling 'sensitive' military equipment

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A former Army reservist was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of almost $75,000 for the military gear he sold on eBay, including sensitive thermal imaging equipment that went to China, Japan and Italy.

Raymond Hairston begged U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester to have mercy and let him pay for his crime with either probation or house arrest for his "one mistake."

"I understand it was my decision to be involved but it was never my intent to do harm," Hairston said before he was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney noted, however, it was not just one sale but a series of sales over two years.

"How many of our otherwise honest citizens avail themselves to doing something illegal because they think they won't get caught?" Owen said, using the example of fudging on income taxes. "I am somewhat perplexed how this all began."

Hariston, 46, pleaded guilty of selling "undeliverable" equipment such as helmets, boots, vests and canteens that ended up at an off-base depot near Fort McPherson. Hairston and his partner Sgt. Erick Rodriguez, 23, also sold three full sets of sensitive thermal imaging equipment and had a half set advertised when they were caught. Rodriguez was convicted by the Army and also was sentenced to a year and three months in prison.

read the rest at link... ^

Couple Sentenced for Selling Stolen Property On eBay

By WBNG News

November 24, 2010

An Ithaca couple admits to stealing industrial parts from a local business and selling them online.

50-year-old Michael Ruffino of Ithaca was sentenced Tuesday for criminal possession of stolen property and conspiracy.

In 2007, Ruffino admits he sold more than 50-thousand dollars worth of milling inserts on eBay stolen from his former employer, Stork H & E Turbo-blading in Danby.

His sentence is 1 - 3 years behind bars, plus he has to pay restitution to the company.

Ruffino's wife, Renee, was sentenced to a conspiracy charge for helping her husband. She got a conditional discharge and also has to pay restitution to Stork H & E Turbo-blading.

From the Log Books of Novato PD

Selected calls from Nov. 20-23

By Brent Ainsworth


2:03 p.m. - A woman reported that she sold some jewelry over eBay and somebody hacked into her PayPal account. 

'$2m net mastermind' refused bail

Feds say HP got duped by Mass. scammer

By Jerry Kronenberg
Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Call it a case of "Geeks Gone Wild."

Prosecutors claim a North Attleboro man conned Hewlett-Packard and other companies into shipping him some $300,000 of warranty-replacement parts for computers that he didn't own, then resold the swag on eBay.

FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents and local police raided Matthew Kucs home yesterday, arresting the 31-year-old and seizing some 150 boxes of computer equipment.

The U.S. Justice Department claims Kuc had been posing since 2005 as a consumer with a defective computer still under warranty, convincing tech companies to ship him free replacement parts.

Authorities say Kuc somehow got real serial numbers from computers owned by a Colorado sheriffs department, a Louisiana university and other legitimate entities.

He then allegedly duped companies into shipping parts to his home, office or UPS mailbox, avoiding detection by using dozens of aliases - including "Joe Stalin." Kuc would later resell the stuff via an "online store" he maintained on eBay, prosecutors claim.

HP got wise to the alleged scam in 2008, conducting its own investigation and tipping off the FBI.

Kuc now faces charges of wire fraud and interstate transportation, storage and sale of stolen property. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 40 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Buyer tipped Solano on eBay probe

Geoff Grammer
The New Mexican
Posted: Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Former Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano came clean to years of selling county property on eBay only after a buyer alerted him that state police were on to him, court records show.

Seven search warrants for computer-related records were unsealed Wednesday, shedding more light on the scandal that led the two-term sheriff to resign on Thanksgiving eve.

New Mexico State Police agent Jesse Williams began investigating Solano on Sept. 1 after a reserve sheriff's deputy in Texas alerted authorities that a bulletproof vest he purchased from Solano was likely stolen. Williams wrote in one warrant that he contacted buyers of at least 49 vests sold by Solano, all originally purchased with Santa Fe County funds.

"I asked that the buyers not contact Mr. Solano about the sensitive investigation," Williams wrote in one search-warrant affidavit.

State police contacted the eBay buyers Nov. 18.

On Nov. 21, Solano contacted state police for the first time on the matter and asked to speak with Williams. When the two met the following day, Solano confessed "that he sold county property on eBay in order to supplement his income" and that he called state police "because he received an e-mail from one of the buyers of a vest, which ... contained the e-mail I had sent to the buyers," Williams wrote.

Solano publicly announced his resignation Nov. 24 after he sent a letter to co-workers, county officials and news media. He claimed to be caught up in financial difficulties and was selling old, discarded and used department equipment online.

State police and eBay records obtained by The New Mexican have confirmed that some -- if not most of the county-owned items sold through Solano's "sfbnews" eBay account were new, not used, items. Some items identified include bulletproof vests, digital recorders, ink cartridges, handcuffs, at least 89 blank CD or DVR discs in 25- and 35-pack bundles, police scanners, gun holsters, cellular telephones and at least two external hard drives owned by the Sheriff's Department.

Williams wrote in an affidavit that "the link between the seller 'sfbnews' and the SFCSO is apparent."

Solano's eBay account was deactivated Nov. 23 after having been open for more than 11 years. Most transactions on the account were personal items Solano sold through the years, including hundreds of campaign buttons and other political memorabilia.

Williams writes in one search-warrant affidavit that Bowie County, Texas, Reserve Deputy Randall Baggett paid $150.50 for a vest. Baggett told The New Mexican last week that he believed he had paid $235 for the Galls vest, which was identified as one of 19 from a $10,108 purchase order the county made in September 2009. That would make the county's average cost per vest $532, at least in that purchase order.

When told by a reporter that the seller of the vest was a county sheriff, Baggett was shocked. "Are you kidding me?" Baggett said. "Wow. I'm glad to hear it looks like it's over now."

Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia, who was Solano's undersheriff before Garcia was sworn in Nov. 24, told The New Mexican last week that the department has tracked down one purchase order from the 2009-10 fiscal year for 10 Galls vests believed to have been stolen by Solano. That purchase order was for a total of $3,500, according to Garcia.

However, state police records show the purchase order indicates the county paid $320 apiece for the vests.

Williams wrote in one warrant that he believes Solano sold most vests for an average of $175.

Garcia said Solano, when questioned by property custodians about items he took, told them he planned to make charitable donations.

State police have said they don't believe anyone else at the county was aware of what Solano was doing.

The county has hired an outside firm to conduct an audit of the department. No audit results have been released.

Solano has not been charged, and Clovis-based District Attorney Matt Chandler has said he hasn't decided if Solano's case will be presented behind closed doors to a grand jury or if he will present evidence publicly at a preliminary hearing before a judge.

"Due to the voluminous records recovered at this point, the investigation could take approximately three to four weeks before it's concluded," Chandler wrote in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Court documents show Solano used PayPal for money transfers when conducting eBay transactions.

"Since April 2009, 49 bulletproof vests have been sold by this seller online," one search warrant states. "The PayPal account information ... (shows) Mr. Solano has been enrolled in PayPal since March 12, 2000, and since that time has received over $40,000 in payments for items sold online. $13,000 of that has been received since April 2009 when the first bulletproof vest was sold by 'sfbnews.' "

The search warrants don't indicate which sales were personal transactions and which ones involved county-owned items.

While state police seem to have narrowed the scope of their review of eBay transactions to a period from January 2009 to the present according to the search warrants made public thus far The New Mexican found sales of handcuffs and other county-owned items dating back to 2007.

Chandler has said investigators are digging back to as far as 2004 to see if some sales by Solano on eBay may have involved county-owned items.

District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco of Santa Fe transferred the case to Chandler, the district attorney in Curry and Roosevelt counties, to avoid any appearance of impropriety since her office has worked closely with Solano.

In Solano's resignation letter, he wrote what he did "was wrong, illegal, unethical and dishonest."

Since then, neither Solano nor defense attorney Brooke Gamble has commented on the case.




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Here is the feedback profile. Note the date of last feedback and that newly changed ID. No word what sleazebay did with it's $hare.

Ebay trader fined over bogus footwear

7:10am Tuesday 21st December 2010

AN online trader from Edmonton selling knock-off footwear over the Internet has been hit with a hefty fine.

Andreas Kyriacou, 23, was rumbled flogging fake trainers and boots after a customer tipped off Enfield Trading Standards.

Officers raided his home, in Nightingale Road, and discovered dozens of bogus Ugg boots and Nike footwear stashed around his home.

He was hauled before magistrates yesterday and ordered to pay a £9,000 fine.

Sims sentenced to probation in connection to laptop thefts

When sophomore tight end Dion Sims was sentenced to a year of probation Monday morning in Detroit's 36th District Court, there was a smattering of applause.

Sims pleaded guilty on Sept. 30 to charges of receiving and concealing stolen property in relation to an organized operation to steal and sell about 104 computers valued at $158,000 from Detroit Public Schools. The laptops were distributed via websites such as eBay and Craigslist to places as far away as Canada, Florida, Arizona and the United Arab Emirates.

Sims' lawyer, Steve Fishman, said Sims was not directly involved in the alleged stealing and selling of the laptops, but played a part in introducing several of the men charged with stealing and selling the laptops.

"It wasnt him stealing computers," Fishman said. "It was him connecting Person A with Person B."

Under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, if Sims follows the terms and conditions for his probation the incident will be cleared from his record, Fishman said. The terms include 15 hours of community service talking to student athletes in Detroit Public Schools and not purchasing or consuming alcohol or drugs.

The act allows a person ages 17 to 20 who has pleaded guilty for a crime to be placed in prison or on probation without conviction to avoid a criminal record.

"He's a young kid and hes a good kid and he made a mistake," Fishman said. (With the act) he can write on (future) applications that he doesnt have a record.

The incident was initially reported to the Wayne County Prosecutors Office in February 2010. MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis was aware of Sims' legal issues since about that time.

Sims has been suspended from the MSU football team since mid-September, but 36th District Judge Kevin Robbins stated during the sentencing that he will support Sims regaining an active status on the team if Sims completes his probation.

"I will go up (to East Lansing) myself or do it by letter," Robbins said. "Whatever its going to take."

MSU Associate Athletics Director John Lewandowski told the State News in September that no action will be taken with Sims' current status on the team until he is sentenced. Lewandowski was not immediately available for comment Monday morning.

Lymann Briggs sophomore Nicholas Tisdale also was involved in the incident. He pleaded guilty for charges of receiving and concealing stolen property in September.

-- Edited by budnonymous on Saturday 1st of January 2011 10:27:44 AM

Contractor Charged for Alleged Theft From Best Buy HQ

12/30/2010  KSTP.com
By: Lauren Radomski

An Apple Valley man has been charged for allegedly stealing computers out of a testing lab at Best Buy's Richfield headquarters.

Investigators say Douglas Wilkins had access to the lab as a contractor with Best Buy. They say he stole three laptop computers from the lab Monday.

According to a criminal complaint, Wilkins also admitted to stealing other computer equipment and selling it on eBay over a two-year period. The stolen equipment totaled more than $7,500.

Yorkie puppies stolen from Sacramento home

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Three puppies were stolen from their breeder's home after they were advertised for sale on eBay.

The breeder, who lives in the Sacramento area, says a woman called and asked for her address and then about ten minutes later, two men showed up -- and took three of the four pups.

One of the men knocked the breeder down, causing bruises and scrapes on her face.

"He was telling me, 'don't scream' and when I hit the garage door button that pissed him off, and he closed it, and that's when he threw me down on the ground," dog breeder Tamara said.

Yorkie puppies are very expensive and valued at more than $700 each.