Two Men Charged in Conspiracy to Steal Computer Equipment From Chicago Company

CHICAGO —An employee of a Chicago company conspired with a New Jersey man to steal computer equipment from the company and sell it to businesses in California and Texas, according to charges in a federal indictment.

DONALD WILSON worked for the Chicago company as a data center engineer.  From 2015 to 2018, Wilson conspired with IVAN SIERRA to steal computer servers, hard drives, and other information technology equipment from the company’s facilities in Chicago and Secaucus, N.J., the indictment states.  Sierra then worked to sell the stolen equipment to businesses in Chatsworth, Calif., and Stafford, Texas, for a total of more than $500,000 the indictment states.

The indictment was returned Thursday in federal court in Chicago.  It charges Wilson, 42, of Carol Stream, Ill., and Sierra, 38, of Lincroft, N.J., with one count of conspiracy to transport stolen goods, and two counts of transportation of stolen goods.  Arraignments have not yet been scheduled.

The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Mitchell.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  The conspiracy count is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, while each transportation count carries a maximum sentence of ten years.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.