Former D.C. Public Schools Employee Sentenced to Six Months in Prison for Interstate Transportation of Stolen Goods
Over 22-Month Period, School Employee Steals Over $30,000 of Computer Equipment

WASHINGTON—A 27-year-old Hyattsville, Maryland man, Hakeem Blaize, was sentenced today to a term of six months of imprisonment having previously pled guilty to interstate transportation of stolen goods in connection with his theft of more than $30,000 worth of computers and computer equipment from the District of Columbia Public Schools, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

At the time of his guilty plea in April 2009, Blaize admitted that between December 2006 and October 2008, he stole more than $30,000 of computer equipment from his employer, the District of Columbia Public Schools, and transported the stolen goods to Maryland and Virginia where he sold them. In Maryland, Blaize pawned the equipment at two different pawnshops. In Virginia, Blaize sold the computer equipment to a man who later became a cooperating witness for the FBI. Between July and September 2008, Blaize sold six stolen laptop computers to the cooperating witness and the transactions were recorded by the FBI.

In sentencing Blaize today, the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court, noted that Blaize appeared to have been motivated by greed and that the D.C. Public Schools can ill-afford to have computers and computer equipment stolen that could have been used for students and teachers. Judge Kollar-Kotelly also noted that it appeared that the only reason Blaize stopped stealing was because he was caught by the FBI. In addition to six months in prison, Blaize was ordered to pay the District of Columbia Public Schools $34,955.44 in restitution, and will serve a three-year period of supervised release after serving his sentence.

In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini praised the efforts of the assigned FBI Special Agents who, along with D.C. Public School Investigator Kenneth Algood, conducted the investigation in this case. They also commended former Legal Assistant Lisa Robinson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office who assisted in the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Hibarger, who prosecuted the case.