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August 27, 2004
FBI Sting Nets Four Arrests in Alleged Precious Metals Scam
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that four individuals were charged today in a criminal complaint with conspiracy and transporting stolen property for their alleged involvement in a scheme to defraud Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara and a Pennsylvania-based precious metals company of more than $2 million in platinum.
In particular, the criminal complaint charges Peter C. Calderone, 36; Fredric Anthony Kendle, 46, of Gardena, California; Sheron Wallace, 39; and Ladi Malloy Tulaner, 44, with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and to transport stolen property interstate in violation of 18 U.S.C.§§ 371, 1341, and 2314. The maximum penalty is 5 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
Mr. Calderon made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg, who detained the defendant pending his posting of $200,000 secured bond. Mr. Calderon is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on September 9, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia V. Trumbull. The three other defendants were scheduled to make their initial appearances this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick in Los Angeles.
According to the criminal complaint, FBI agents arrested Mr. Calderone in Alameda County yesterday afternoon after he allegedly picked up a package from a shipping company by falsely posing an executive of Applied, then supplied it to Mr. Kendle and Ms. Wallace. Although the defendants allegedly believed the package to contain platinum that had been ordered under false pretenses, the FBI had instead caused the package to be filled with stainless steel plates and a tracking device. FBI surveillance of the package containing the fake platinum culminated in the arrests of the other three individuals in Los Angeles.
The complaint states that the defendants initiated the scheme by sending bogus emails to Johnson & Matthey, Inc., a precious metals company located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, purporting to place an order for platinum on behalf of Applied. According to the complaint, the individual posing as the Applied executive claimed in these emails that the platinum was required for use in the fabrication of semiconductors. Defendants allegedly ordered approximately $2.3 million of platinum under these false pretenses.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI's Cyber Crime Squad in the San Jose Resident Agency and the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) Task Force in San Jose.
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 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 District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher P. Sonderby, Chief of the CHIP Unit, at (415) 308-7993, or Administrative Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Caporizzo at (415) 436-6740. |
