5 March 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that Marci O’Kelly, 35, of Sunnyvale, pled guilty late yesterday to defrauding her former employer, Apple Computer, Inc., of $115,000 through a scheme in which she ordered photographic equipment on company accounts then sold it on eBay for her personal benefit.
In pleading guilty to the superseding information charging one count of wire fraud, Ms. O’Kelly admitted that she was the graphics design budget coordinator for Apple in 2002 and 2003. During that time, Ms. O’Kelly admitted that she defrauded Apple by ordering approximately $115,000 of digital photography equipment from vendors on Apple’s account without authorization, then reselling that equipment for her personal benefit on eBay.
The maximum statutory penalty for wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, is twenty years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 plus restitution. Ms. O’Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27, 2005, at 9 a.m. before United States District Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The investigation was overseen by the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shashi Kewalramani from the CHIP unit is prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release and related court filings may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can . Related court documents and information may be found on the U.S. District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on .
