Two siblings have been sentenced to prison for their role in stealing millions of dollars worth of Apple MacBook computers from Stanford University.
Patricia Castaneda, 38, of Redwood City, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and her brother, Eric Castaneda, 37, also of Redwood City, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to a release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office on Monday.
Along with the prison terms, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller has ordered the brother and sister pay restitution, more than $4 million from Patricia and more than $2.3 million from Eric.
Castaneda used her position at the university's School of Humanities and Sciences to orchestrate a scheme with her brother to steal the computers. Her job included the responsibility of ordering MacBooks for the school's faculty and staff.
Starting in 2009 or 2010, she started stealing the computers she was ordering and selling them for cash, pocketing the proceeds.
In the beginning, she used a contact on Craigslist to sell the stolen MacBooks. But starting in early 2016, her brother Eric was brought in to sell them to a contact, Philip James, who fenced them to buyers outside of California.
Castaneda stole more than $4 million worth of laptops from the university, which includes the 800 sold by Eric, worth around $2.3 million.
James was also charged for his involvement and pled guilty earlier this month.
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