Four men have been
arrested in the last week for the alleged theft of over $1 million worth of computers. including MacBook Airs, destined for use in two public high schools in New Jersey. The gang were arrested on Wednesday and put before a federal judge in New York on Wednesday, accused of "participating in a scheme to steal, transport, and sell a shipment of approximately 1,200 computers" in January last year.
Key gang member Anton Saljanin was hired to transport 1,195 notebooks from one company in Massachusetts following an earlier delivery of 1,300 notebooks,
reports Ars Technica. After bringing brother Gjon Saljanin along for the drive, Anton parked the truck in a parking lot overnight, telling the police the next day that the truck had been taken and he had no idea what happened to it. Later the same day, he told police he apparently found the truck 27 miles away when looking for it.
According to the
unsealed complaint, detectives discovered some issues with the story straight away. While there was no broken glass in the original parking location, the second parking lot did have glass on the ground, suggesting it to be where a window on the truck was smashed, and that the truck was not stolen from the first location. It was also found the truck would not have been discoverable by Anton from Interstate 84, where he claims to have found it.
Surveillance footage later showed the truck was being driven by the two men at the time it was supposedly stolen, taking a longer route to go near the home of third defendant Ujka Vulaj. Cell-site records pulled by the FBI also discovered Anton's phone did not follow the route he claimed to have taken to find the truck.
For a three month period afterwards, Vulaj and Carlos Caceres are claimed to have sold dozens of MacBook Airs, valued at $1,000 each, for between $500 and $800 each, with the notebooks passed on in plain cardboard packaging.
All four men are charged with conspiracy, with all but Caceres facing counts of theft from an interstate shipment and interstate transportation of stolen property. Vulaj and Caceres are also charged with receipt, possession, and sale of stolen property. Three of the charges have maximum penalties of up to ten years in prison, with the conspiracy counting for five years. All four are currently released on bail.
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