Colorado: An Indian American, Saurabh Chawla, who bought stolen Apple products from school employees in the US and sold them on eBay and Amazon, has been sentenced to 66 months in prison. Colorado resident Chawla, 36, bought 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, Chawla worked with a FedEx distribution center 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.
"From October 2015 to 2018, Stock and Chawla dealt directly with each other, in emails, texts, and phone calls. Stock admitted that she received more than $800,000 in illegal proceeds from selling stolen iPods worth more than $1 million. After Chawla's relative received the stolen goods from Stock, Chawla listed them for sale online through eBay at a substantial markup.
From May 2014 through August 2019, Bender and Chawla conspired so Chawla could use Bender's eBay and PayPal accounts to sell stolen goods and merchandise.
