Defendant Sentenced to 78 Months in Federal Court After Admitting to Stealing Millions of Dollars Worth of Equipment from Cisco Systems, Inc.

Portland, OR—U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman sentenced Steven Edward Miller, 38, a resident at various times of Portland, Oregon; Everett, Washington; and Marysville, Washington, to serve 78 months in prison and a three-year term of supervised release, and pay restitution of $3,713,107 for money laundering and mail fraud. Miller previously pled guilty on December 9, 2008.

According to court records Miller, who has been incarcerated since his arrest on federal charges in November of 2007, created PDX USA with the intention of providing telecommunication/Internet services for area residents. Between approximately August 2004 and November 2006, Miller used the entity names PDX USA, The New CB Shop, and others to interact with Cisco Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer and seller of computer networking
equipment and services based in San Jose, California. Miller rented office space for the two
aforementioned entities in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Miller devised a scheme to defraud Cisco Systems Inc. of more than $3.7 million in computer equipment and parts. He made false warranty claims to Cisco for replacement parts for computer equipment. Cisco shipped the parts to Miller at the Portland office space and to Miller’s residences in Everett and Marysville, Washington, expecting that Miller would return
the defective parts he allegedly had. In reality, Miller did not have any defective Cisco computer
parts. Once he obtained the new parts from Cisco, he sold them via the Internet and kept the
proceeds for himself.

Investigators from the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and from Cisco Systems, Inc. jointly investigated this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire M. Fay prosecuted
the case on behalf of the United States.