Sysadmin Steals Almost 20,000 Pieces of Computer Equipment

coondoggie writes "Now this is some serious computer theft. We're talking 19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment from the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. The theft included everything from PCs and printer toner to hard drives, software and other office equipment amounting to over $120,000, according to court documents and published reports."

Comments

Re:Simple solution. Ask

[stupid_is]

if it's working kit with book value, then you then have to work out the tax implications of this "bonus" :-(

So True...

[Interfacer]

I am sysadmin in a pharmaceutical company, and the Parent is correct.

We have 3 DELL 2600 servers with Dual CPU Xeon cpu, SCSI raid5, 4GB RAM ready to make their final trip to the dumpster.
We cannot use them anymore for plant systems because they are obsolete and out of support.
They are too big and noisy to use as test systems (as opposed to the 2U 2650s that we are going to keep just for that).

I would love to have even one of those machines in my basement, but it is not going to happen.
Corporate policy forbids employees from taking or even buying obsolete equipment.
In the beginning it was allowed, but someone once abused the system really badly, so now there has to be a documented paper trail for the destruction of all things going the the digital eternity.

We are going to try and give them away to a charity or school because it hurts to see those perfectly good machines except the disks) destroyed. But if we can't find anyone willing to take them, they will be destroyed. :(

Re:So True...

[Archangel Michael]

http://www.computersforclassrooms.org/

They will even pick it up, if you're in California.

Re:More likely ex-military spec

[Anonymous Coward]

This is COMPLETELY off topic and I expect to be modded as such, but I always felt this joke should be written as "There are 1 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.". Sorry about that, carry on.

Ok in case you're being serious... I'm fairly certain that the whole point of the joke is that 10 in binary is equal to 2 in decimal. 1 in binary is equal to 1 in decimal, which would make the joke nonsensical.

I know for a fact that this is wrong

[an.echte.trilingue]

I have actually worked on disposing old IT equipment in the military, so I can tell you for a fact that this speculation is wrong.

All computers and IT equipment (down to mice and thumb drives) are tracked on a company's property book. When the item comes up for life cycle replacement, it is wiped and turned into the Property Book Office. Everything that was ever on a property book has to be turned in this way, regardless of depreciation. A commander can write off a certain amount, but since it is always a challenge to stay under the limit, they in practice never throw stuff in a closet to be taken home by some IT dude.

Anyways, after the equipment gets turned in, it goes to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. While this stuff sometimes shows up in auctions later on, realistically anything that can still be used gets sent to an ally (usually Iraq or Afghanistan these days) as military/civil service aid.

Military contractors, on the other hand, are a whole different ball of wax. You want to see some waste, allow me to introduce you to Honeywell.

News report

[NotmyNick]

Here's the actual news report on this. Don't slap your wife around if you're defraying your disposables costs from work. Apparently, the prosecution did do the "street value" crap on the reporter

Wife's call leads authorities to huge Navy crime

October 1, 2008 - 10:36am
Scott McCabe and Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writers

After Victor Papagno Jr. was arrested on a domestic violence charge in August 2007, his wife, Andrea, told his bosses at the Naval Research Laboratory that she wanted his work stuff out of the house, federal sources said.

Navy officials didn't know what she was talking about.

When they showed up at the Papagno's Calvert County home, authorities found a crime scene: 19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment from the Navy lab - hard drives, CDs, zip drives, floppy disks - worth up to $1.6 million, according to court documents and Navy officials.

Papagno, 40, the computer administrator for the Navy research lab, had accumulated so much hardware that some of the boxes had to be stored at neighbors' homes, sources close to the investigation told The Examiner.

Victor Papagno is scheduled to appear today in a federal courtroom in the District to plead guilty to theft of government property. His attorney, Thomas Joseph Kelly Jr., said the plea agreement was "fragile" and he could not comment about the case.

The NRL, the research lab for the Navy and Marine Corps located on Overlook Avenue in Southwest Washington, conducts scientific research and develops technologies. The lab is credited with the development of radar, the proposal for the first nuclear submarine, and the creation of the satellite system that provided the basis for the Global Positioning System.

NRL spokesman Dick Thompson said that no secret technological information had been breached in the computer equipment theft.

A review found that the private information of 14 employees and contractors who worked at the laboratory from 1998 to 2002 had been found on CDs or zip drives, and those people were contacted, Thompson said.

According to charging documents, from 1997 to 2007, Papagno took the equipment home for his own personal use and for family and friends, court documents said.

Papagno, who started working for NRL in 1989, resigned on Aug. 20, Thompson said.

That was three days after his arrest for domestic violence. His wife dropped the charges.