An Oklahoma federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a 59-year-old Colorado man to seven years in prison for stealing and then selling telecommunications equipment worth millions of dollars.
Oklahoma federal Judge John E. Dowell also ordered Jesse Michael Greenwald to pay $4.4 million in restitution, said Danny C. Williams Sr., U.S. Attorney for northern Oklahoma.
Greenwald previously pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, according to a news release by Jeff Dorschner, spokesman.
Other defendants in the case include Scott Gollan, 26, and Michael Greenwald, 25, both of Bastrop, Texas, and James Pennoyer, 49, of Tulsa. The three have also pleaded guilty to charges arising from the thefts from Verizon and are awaiting sentencing.
Between July 2009 to May 2014, Pennoyer was a contract employee at the Verizon Communications warehouse in Tulsa, and helped his co-conspirators equipment from the warehouse.
The defendants transported the stolen equipment to Colorado Springs, and stored it in a facility to be sold at a later date, a news release says.
Much of the equipment was sold to a company in North Carolina, which made substantial payments to Greenwald and his co-conspirators.
The defendants used the funds to engage in illegal money transactions of more than $10,000 each.
FBI and IRS agents investigated the case.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kirkmitchell. denverpost.com/coldcases
