A 36-year-old Indian-American man named Saurabh Chawla has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for purchasing and reselling Apple products that were not only stolen, but also meant for Native American school children in New Mexico, a state in the US.
US District Judge Catherine Blake ordered Chawla to pay $713,619 as restitution to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), according to a PTI report.
He was also asked to sign an order of forfeiture that demanded from him to forfeit a 2013 Tesla Model S and $ 2,308,062.61 from his accounts.
Chawla is from the state of Colorado.
Based on the information provided in the complaint and the court documents, Chawla bought Apple products from a woman named Kristy Stock, who herself worked for the Central Consolidated School District from 2010 to 2019.
Her job was to supervise a programme that would provide Apple iPods to school children in order to benefit Native American children living on tribal reservations in the state.
Stock admitted to stealing more than 3,000 iPods from 2013 to 2018.
Chawla and Stock had a plan that consisted of negotiating a price for the stolen item, after which Stock would ship the item to a relative of Chawla in Maryland.
After that, Chawla paid her via PayPal.
Stock, for her role in the crime, was given a 18-month prison sentence.
Finally, there's James Bender, an accomplice to Saurabh Chawla.
His role was that he allowed his friend (Chawla) and the relative to sell goods through the former's eBay accounts.
Bender was also sentenced to prison for a year and a day.
(With inputs from PTI)
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