ASDRUBEL SAMPAYO, 31, formerly of Federal Way, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years of probation for Mail Fraud in connection with a scheme to steal and sell toner cartridges. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour departed from sentencing guidelines and imposed the probationary sentence citing SAMPAYO’s current service in the Navy in the Persian Gulf.

According to the plea agreement signed in February 2008, between June and October 2005, SAMPAYO was working as a Xerox Customer Service Engineer. In this capacity, he occasionally serviced Xerox copiers at a Boeing facility in Tukwila, Washington. SAMPAYO placed orders for 18 shipments of toner cartridges worth more than $490,000. SAMPAYO used various false names for the Boeing person requesting the toner. Xerox became suspicious of the orders because they were so large, and the cartridges were for model numbers that were incompatible with the ones at the Tukwila facility. Further, there was no Boeing employee with the name on the order information.

Three of the suspect orders had not been delivered, so Xerox and Boeing security worked to make the delivery and observe who claimed the cartridges. On October 5, 2005, Boeing security officers saw SAMPAYO drive up and load the cartridges from the Boeing loading dock into his Xerox company van. The security officers detained SAMPAYO and called police. Inside SAMPAYO’s van officers found eBay documents indicating SAMPAYO had sold nine cartridges on-line in late August 2005. SAMPAYO’s supervisor told police there was no reason for SAMPAYO to be loading those cartridges into his van to take off the Boeing dock, and he noted that SAMPAYO had taken all his Xerox issue tools out of the van that day in order to make room for the boxes. Had SAMPAYO been on legitimate Xerox business, he would have needed his tools. Cell phone records revealed that SAMPAYO had called the number for ordering toner on most of the dates when the suspect orders were placed. Records from eBay and PayPal revealed that a relative of SAMPAYO’s had sold 934 cartridges on-line for more than $135,000. SAMPAYO had set up an account at Washington Mutual in Federal Way and the relative had deposited nearly $38,000 from PayPal into this account. SAMPAYO had made numerous large cash deposits into the account as well.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, SAMPAYO agrees to pay restitution to Xerox of $392,902. Judge Coughenour imposed the restitution and said he found the case “very troublesome.” The judge said he was “profoundly moved by the support shown by the Navy command staff” in the letters written on SAMPAYO’s behalf. “You owe a great deal not only to Xerox, but to the Navy for their support,” Judge Coughenour told SAMPAYO.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Tukwila Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arlen Storm.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.

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