A now-former employee of United Parcel Service (UPS) is accused of stealing over A$1.9 million worth of Apple laptops and iPhones from the shipping company’s warehouse in Winnipeg, Canada to sell on the black market over seven months, reports Winnipeg Free Press.
30-year-old Orville Martirez Beltrano was charged by police with theft under $5,000, theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime, trafficking property obtained by crime and possession of the proceeds of crime, on 22 Jan.
According to the report, Jan. 22 is the same day UPS was planning to fire Beltrano after its investigator identified he was responsible for hundreds of theft.
Beltrano was hired by UPS as a local sorting supervisor in 2013. Between last July and this January, police allege that he stole at least 866 Apple devices before selling them in bulk to a person he met on online marketplace Kijiji.
Police also suspect he stole $9,150 worth of jewellery from the warehouse.
UPS cameras captured Beltrano allegedly taking Apple products and other electronics from the warehouse to his office, and then his vehicle on three occasions. In one of the thefts, he’s accused of removing 120 iPhones during one shift alone.
Beltrano is alleged to have used his vehicle to deliver the stolen products to the buyer from Kijiji, before depositing the cash in his bank accounts.
The case against Beltrano alleges that he deposited a total of $232,650 in cash in bank accounts between September last year and mid-January.
He apparently purchased a suburban house which was only approved for sale a few days before his arrest, and is accused of using the stolen cash to pay for it.
Prosecutors are seeking the court’s approval seize Beltrano’s suburban house, his white Audi hatchback, $9,000 in cash and the money in his bank accounts.
