5 arrested in $37M chip heist
Five men have been arrested in connection to a February chip heist that saw between 10 and 15 men armed with rifles and handguns, wearing gloves and masks, storm a loading dock at Unigen Corp’s Fremont, Calif, office, according to reports.
The men walked out with approximately $37 million worth of Unigen’s memory. Officials estimate that 98% of the 1.7 million flash chips stolen have been recovered and that the remaining 2% have been shipped to China, according to reports.
The men arrested were identified as Jesus Meraz Jr, 25, of San Jose; Dylan Catayas Lee, 32, of San Jose; Rolando McKay Secreto, 38, of San Jose; Leonard Abriam, 31, of San Jose; and Pierre Ramos, 28, of Union City. The men, along with up to 10 accomplices, reportedly held up five Unigen employees, tied them up and moved them to a back room, loaded the chips onto a large truck, then made their getaway, leaving the employees bound.
The arrested face up to life in prison if convicted of all charges. Charges include armed robbery, kidnapping, and burglary, among others, reports state.
The five Bay Area locals arrested were tracked down by REACT (Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team), a task force directed by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office.
REACT and the DA’s office have withheld some information, such as exactly where the recovered chips were found, as several suspects are still at large.
According to some reports, the task force and office have noted gray market traffickers with plans to move the stolen chips. The Wall Street Journal, for one, reported that investigators back-tracked through different levels of gray-market dealers to find the stolen memory. They developed leads among buyers and sellers of chips, eventually identifying some products advertised for sale that were suspected to be those stolen from Unigen, WSJ reported Friday.
No word yet on if the intended gray market buyers of the flash will face any charges. The chips had originally been intended for Google, reports state. Reports also state the flash was manufactured by Intel. The heist is being called “the largest chip robbery in Bay Area history” by the DA’s office.
Several immediate reactions across the Web have been that a possible life sentence for these men is too harsh. Some have stated that the kidnapping charges - which stem from the employees being moved by force into another room after being bound - should be dropped out right, claiming that’s not really kidnapping. And no report or comment out there seems to understand what flash is, other than to state it is “memory,” with possible exception of the San Jose Mercury News‘ coverage.
For accurate judgment and sentencing, let’s hope the legal system has a judge, lawyers, and a jury that understands how powerful, versatile, and dangerous $37 million worth of flash would be in the wrong hands.
What do you think? Constructive comments are welcome below.
NIKT commented:
Armed robbery means the perp has an intent to hurt or kill if he doesn't get his way. Life in the slammer will certainy keep these dirt bags off the street. Also, what's being done about their linkage to the Chinese? These guys seemed to have a very specific target and a place (China) sell the stolen goods. Chinese agents may have even fomented this theft. Along with an army of hackers and energetic industrial spies, China is a serious enemy in the world community. These people have no respect for patents, licenses, or other legalities in their efforts to achieve commercial and military primacy.
Tamza commented:
Try them AFTER the wall street bandits who have 'stolen' about 1 TRILLION dollars, if not more over the last decade or two. That amount should include the degradation in value of the US dollar as well as the jobs lost to offshoring, and then we have a few more trillion. These local thefts are small fry, and should be controlled, but the Wall Street (and Washington DC) stuff should get priority.
Milton commented:
Where were the police? Arm all employees
Thwapaboot commented:
Isn't anybody entertained that a special enforcement group called REACT caught them and that the last two letters are for computer team? Geeks with Guns?
NoCompromise commented:
IC is an intellectual property and this theft is a very well planned action, not just for money but also to gain technologically competitive by China. This will indireclty further loot the semiconductor and other markets, after China deploying these items in fake products. Pest should be correctly disposed of as per the law of the nation, if required please change the law as many of these new situations are not well documented in the law books.
C.Smith commented:
While blatent,lets not forget two things, failure to destroy engineering prototypes that get remarked and the goverment sanctioned cloning of cpus, drives, memory, chipsets by a certain asain country, amazing how they wont let you record serial numbers for all devices made there.
Zola commented:
We will probably hear much more in the future about this subject matter, as many aspects of this robbery are not solved:
- How the burglars did succeed to load a big truck with 1.7 million flash chips?
- Why Unigen Corp had in stock such amount of flash chips?
- What would Google intend to do with such amount of chips?
- Is the black market (I will not say that stolen goods are in circulation in the gray market), so is the black market in USA so powerful to absorb 37 Million $ worth bespoke tailored manufacturing goods as flash chips are?
Reality_Check commented:
They should indeed be punished severely for the crimes they committed. But the reality is that people who murder and rape often get very little time behind bars. So don't bet that these guys will spend all their days in jail. They stole, no one died, so it's just material. I'd guess half the charges will be dropped by trail time, so they'll only be facing an Armed Robbery charge... 20 years.. and most won't even do all of that...sad but most likely true
The Law commented:
What they did, they should expect to deserve the sentence expected. This is armed robery and is considered dangerous as the victims life was at stake. A heavy life inprisonment should be in order so that this would make others think twice if they were to try commit the same offence. Otherwise a light sentence will make other syndicates to continue such armed heist since they know if caught the sentence is light. Enough said. prosecute them and send them to the bars for life.
sumshmuk commented:
The crime appears to be armed robbery of $37M value, that I agree. But the comment "understands how powerful, versatile, and dangerous $37 million worth of flash would be in the wrong hands" does not have merit, as those with the knowledge and capital to actually do anything with the chips, other than sell them, don't need to steal $37M worth of chips. Actually I believe $37M in cash is more dangerous in the wrong hands than $37M worth of commodity chips. JMHO
HemiC commented:
Armed robbery is what it is.
As for kidnaping, this is the way Santa Clara county normally over-charges in most crimes. It is a posture for negotiation.
DeathPenalty forParkingtickets commented:
I wonder if these were being swiped to sell to some company that was going to make something to rob us a second time or if they were destined for military uses ie restricted goods. A lot of the chips and bits we take for granted in a lot of things are on the verboten list for a reason.
US Citizen commented:
Ask the Unigen employees who were held at gunpoint and threatened with their lives if any punishment is too harsh. Suggesting that life imprisonment is too harsh is like the parents who say "it's ok, they said they were sorry......"
buzzbox commented:
Hangem High Stealing is Wrong
You can call me Ray ... commented:
Following up on Nanotech's comment above, one to the head of each should suffice, but then bill the families of each for the respective bullet. What the US needs is some pre-1972 style Chinese justice.
Ralph commented:
Life in prision is a threat to get someone to talk since there are still five to ten others out there. IMO treat this like any other high $$ armed robbery.
Chip Protekman commented:
Aggravated robbery should get the book dropped on them from 13th floor. Additional sentencing should be 74 years commensurate with the value stolen ($37M among 10 robbers paid back at the rate of $50K per year).
FJ commented:
If I hear one more news story about how stolen technology products were destined for China, or that an ex-Chinese employee of a company left with stolen company documents, I will going to have a fit. The Justice Department needs to do something about this. This is the 7th or 8th "malicious act" story that I am aware of where China is involved somehow.
I_pick_dem_up commented:
The company waiting for these in China should definitely be held responsible to the highest degree. China cannot be trusted: government or businesses in China.
Taking a harsh stance against China in terms of trade as a result of these crimes will be a first step in generating a healthy respect of US business. Without it, they have zero fear and only everything gain by stealing technology and resources.
Randoho commented:
They probably should have gotten indecent exposure charges for flashing!
How can you not know what flash is in this day and age?
Stealing by gang type violence deserves life in prison. But, I wouldn't call it kidnapping by moving them into a room. Justice is best served when we are honest about what they actually did. If we want stronger laws we should make stronger laws for the crime.
5 arrested in $37M Heist commented:
I agree "hang'em High"
RA commented:
I think they should add the charge of Treason to the list of other charges. These guys had to all know where these chips would end up, and ultimately be used against the very country they live FREE in! Make an example out of them.
ErnieM commented:
I don't care if they were stealing a busted Ipod, "armed robbery, kidnapping, and burglary" rates a life sentence in my book.
SPJ commented:
Kidnapping!? Armed robbery will be quite enough.
Throwing the kitchen sink at defendants is a Bad Thing. The extra legal work costs money (yours). Also, you shouldn't be too ready to cheer the use of overwhelming firepower by prosecutors. Some day you might be on the receiveing end.
Rick K commented:
I don't care if they were stealing bags of Cheetos. What they stole is irrelevant. Armed robbery is armed robbery. When they show up point guns the assumption is that if anyone resists they will kill them. They need to spent forever in prison or it makes armed robbery OK.
Nanotech commented:
Two in the head .... more cost effective .. their actions were tantamount to treason ....
Hang 'em High commented:
Too Harsh? Huh? What are these people thinking?
Do they realize what this technology is capable of being used for?
These guys obviously did their homework and appear to have expected this would be an easy path to wealth! I believe this should be prosecuted like any other armed robbery and the perpetrators should face the maximum penalty the laws allow. If they are allowed to walk away with a hand slap what kind of message is that going to send to other opportunists?
Valley Resident commented:
Just plain seriously dangerous armed criminals. Throw the book at them. It's not important what they stole, other than if they had provable intention of aiding threats to USA of a national security nature. In which case it should be (penalty)^2.
Steve B commented:
Kudos to the REACT team! Hopefully this will send a message to others who might plan similar crimes.
I am incredulous to read the report that some find the possible sentence to be too harsh. To me it wouldn't matter if they were stealing jewelry or other valuable items, the criminals threatened the life and safety of people who were only doing their jobs. They deserve harsh sentences for their actions.
Tom EE commented:
I agree. Why should we have to support them in jail for the rest of their lives? Too may people work for a living that criminals should be given harsher sentences, including the death penalty.
And what about export restrictions? Were these ICs restricted for export to China?? Is this another case of our technology unlawfully going to China?
RT commented:
Agreed. As Clint would say "Hang 'em High"
stanmorgan commented:
Most of those chips were to be sent to China, which in the past has hijacked computers, and chips from US firms to clone designs. Our balance of payments favors China at this point. $37M is the money whereas the chip design is the future of our country's companies and balance of payments.
cascadestom commented:
Actual sentence of course will depend heavily on their prior records. The weeping sisters need not worry, mitigating evidence is always used to reduce actual sentences. Let's compromise and give them only 20 years - same as for armed bank robbery.
Name commented:
Try being held against your will by gun point, not knowing if you will be killed, and then suggest it isn't kidnapping.
Oedipus Tex commented:
Nothing short of life in prison would represent justice.
Clint Eastwould commented:
Hmmm - a flash mob.
$37M in stolen goods is hang 'em from a tree territory in my book. Rifles and handguns shows non-boyscout intentions and for $37M at stake, it's obvious how far ANYONE would go with that much at stake. Life's not long enough of a sentence for their use of the weapons, not to mention teh trauma of hardworking people seeing these thugs at their workplace.
