Verizon Tech Given 4-year Federal Prison Sentence For $4.5M Equipment Scam

McGruber writes "Michael Baxter, the network engineer at the southeastern regional headquarters of Verizon Wireless who submitted hundreds of fraudulent service requests to Cisco, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Baxter was also ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to Cisco Systems, and $462,828 in restitution to Verizon. Instead of placing the replacement parts into service in the Verizon Wireless network, Baxter took the parts home and sold them to third-party re-sellers for his own profit. He used the money to buy cars, jewelry and multiple cosmetic surgeries for his girlfriend."

Comments

Re:What kind of prison? First?

[fustakrakich]

If he'd held up a convenience store he could easily have gotten 7 mandatory or more

If he had been the company president and a big political contributor, some poor tech way down the ladder would be facing charges instead. If he was a higher up at Goldman Sachs, he would be given a cabinet position at the white house.

The guy committed fraud, hardly worth locking him up. Just take his property and garnish his income for the rest of his life, or until the money is paid back.

Re:What kind of prison? First?

[raehl]

but of the people I know have been through a robbery in most cases it was so quick that beyond the initial moment of shock it's not something that affects their day to day lives

You're experiencing selection bias. It's hard to meet people who have been killed in robberies.

If you cause a violent confrontation, there is real risk someone gets seriously hurt or killed. They could certainly be injured in a manner that costs society far more than $2.8 million in medical treatment costs over the life of the victim.

If you steal some equipment, there's a financial loss, but no one is going to get hurt.

Discouraging people from creating violent situations is far more important than discouraging people from stealing from companies with insufficient controls.

I'm far more worried about a guy who might point a gun at my head when I'm trying to pick up some milk than I am a guy who is going to steal some hardware when I'm not looking.

It just shows how stupid this guy is.

[raehl]

If you have an extra $10,000, buy your girlfriend new boobs.

If you have an extra $1,000,000, get a hotter girlfriend.