San Francisco, Jan 15, Desh Click News
Indian-American Saurabh Chawla, who bought stolen Apple products from school employees in the US and sold those on eBay and Amazon, has been sentenced to 66 months in prison.
Colorado resident Chawla, 36, bought up stolen electronics and other goods and resold them on e-commerce platforms. He also bought stolen iPads from New Mexico school districts.
According to the US Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, Chawla worked with a FedEx distribution centre manager from Delaware named Joseph Kukta to steal packages before they made it to customers.
Those thefts included shipments of Nike sneakers and devices from Apple, Epson, Kenwood, and Magellan, among other merchandise.
Chawla allegedly paid Kukta $1.5 million, according to court documents.
The Chawla saga came to light when US District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Kristy Stock, 46, of Waterflow, New Mexico, to 18 months in prison for federal charges of interstate transportation of stolen goods and tax fraud.
Stock admitted that from 2013 to 2018, she stole more than 3,000 iPods purchased by the school district and sold them on eBay to Chawla and others for her personal benefit.