Fairfax County Public Schools employee has been charged with embezzlement after police found 1,200 stolen laptops in his home.

Craig Soderberg, 60, reportedly took used laptops, refurbished them, then sold them online.

At what point did the realize that 1,200 laptops were missing? And what was the difference between for example 100 missing laptops and 1,200 missing laptops.

Good job school board. Keep focusing on artificial turf and PISA scores while the help robs us blind.

McElweeny, untwist your knickers. The School Board shouldn't be worrying about laptops in the warehouse. Schools are required to send obsolete or broken computers to the warehouse, typically equipment that's close to a decade old. Some of the computers our school recently sent to the warehouse were Dell D600 laptops. Checking eBay just now, there's one D600 for $10.99 and another for $49.99 in "mint condition". Believe me, when hundreds of elementary school students are using a laptop like this for 8+ years, it's not gonna be in "mint condition" when it's finally sent to the warehouse -- it will have broken or missing keys, a scratched screen, spills and snot and I don't even want to imagine what-all caught under the keyboard. I can't imagine them even being worth $20 each for spare parts.

Before the laptops are sent to the warehouse, the hard drives and RAM are removed. So what he would have had to do is cannibalize other equipment in order to find all of those replacement parts, then invest in refurbishing them so they are marketably usable again. That's a lot of work for maybe, max $50 a unit.

I'm not saying theft is ever acceptable. But it's not like the guy was stealing new equipment that just arrived from Dell. The warehouse is where the garbage is sent.

Sounds like a Sanford & Son operation to me.

Even if he got $50 for every one, youre only talking a gross of 60K (minus what he had to buy or steal to refurbish them)

Hey grow up,
If you part them out they can fetch about $150.00 each.

Grow Up, you're kind of missing the point here. It doesn't matter if each computer was work $150, $60, or even just $1. He stole 1,200 computers that had been entrusted to him. And clearly FCPS had no inventory control in place to keep track of these. If they were truly worth only $20 each as spare parts as you suggest then it might not have even been worth keeping them. It might have been more expensive to store and secure (operative word in this context) and track them than to just write them off as junk and excess them.

Or even better, write them off as junk, excess them, then auction them off in bulk so that people like Soderberg can buy the whole lot and refurb them at his own leisure and do with them as he sees fit.

McElweeny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Or even better, write them off as junk, excess
> them, then auction them off in bulk so that people
> like Soderberg can buy the whole lot and refurb
> them at his own leisure and do with them as he
> sees fit.

Maybe that's what happened. He thought they were non inventoried junk and bought them from himself.

Fcps
Attachments:

I'll be making mad bank Yo
Attachments:

He should be immediately forgiven; he is an Obama donor.

School Employee Charged with Embezzlement
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/news-releases/2014/011314embezzlement.htm

Fairfax County Police Department
Public Information Office
4100 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Va. 22030
703-246-2253. TTY 703-204-2264. Fax 703-246-4253
FCPD-PIO@fairfaxcounty.gov
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police
News Release:/2014/304/0041/LHC/3
January 13, 2014


School Employee Charged with Embezzlement

Franconia – Police arrested a coordinator of warehouse operations for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) on Monday, January 13. Craig Soderberg, 60, of Lady Anne Court, Alexandria was charged with two counts of embezzlement.


Police began an investigation in October 2013 after receiving a request from the FCPS Internal Investigations Section concerning the allegation. The suspect was allegedly taking used laptop computers, refurbishing them and selling them online.

Police removed over 1,200 computers from the suspect’s residence on January 9.

The investigation is continuing.

###

To request this information in an alternate format, call the Public Information Office at 703.246.2253. TTY 703-204-2264
Attachments:

Somewhere Stabitha sheds a tear, for the perp was white.

That's alot of computers, surely there must be more to this story.

feel sorry for Stabitha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Somewhere Stabitha sheds a tear, for the perp was
> white.

He certainly looks like a kindly old fellow

Stabitha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> feel sorry for Stabitha Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Somewhere Stabitha sheds a tear, for the perp
> was
> > white.
>
> He certainly looks like a kindly old fellow

And productive! 1,200 computers is an impressive accomplishment!

What's wrong with taking used laptops? Were they stolen or thrown away?

So they took "over 1200" and he's been selling lots of them?

Just how many laptops does FCPS need??? And WTH doesn't it keep better track of them?

Fewer lappies and better control = fewer trailers for kids.

Clarification needed Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's wrong with taking used laptops? Were they
> stolen or thrown away?

taking = EMBEZZLEMENT, doh!

bet craig wishes he had given me that ebay refund, neow..

Fucking niggers! They always do this sh...

Wait...

Nevermind...

Did you know that supervisor's & warehouse driver's delivered the laptop's to his home? There's other's that are involved and it's being swept under the rug

FCPS employee resigns amid embezzlement charges
Police: 1,200 laptops discovered at Alexandria man’s home
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20140114/NEWS/140119487/1076/final-steps-for-reston-master-plan/FCPS-employee-resigns-amid-embezzlement-charges&template=fairfaxTimes

An Alexandria man who resigned from Fairfax County Public Schools on Friday was arrested Monday and charged with taking school computers and selling them.

Fairfax County Police say Craig Soderberg, 60, of Lady Anne Court in Alexandria, was charged Monday with two counts of embezzlement after a three-month investigation revealed that he was allegedly taking used laptop computers from a warehouse where older FCPS equipment was stored, refurbishing them, and then selling them online.

Police said they removed more than 1,200 computers from Soderberg’s home after a search on Jan. 9.

Soderberg had worked for FCPS for nearly 16 years. The school system hired him as a buyer technician in 1998 before promoting him to manager of a Springfield warehouse located at 6800 Industrial Road, according to FCPS spokesman John Torre.

Soderberg was placed on administrative leave on Jan. 9 and resigned Jan. 10, three days prior to his arrest, Torre said. Police said they began an investigation in October after receiving a request from the FCPS Internal Investigations Section concerning the allegation. According to Torre, the internal FCPS investigation began in June.

Soderberg’s arrest comes two months after two other FCPS employees were also charged with embezzlement.

In November, a prominent middle school principal, her son, and her former finance aide were all charged in an another alleged embezzlement scheme that police said could go back three years and potentially bilked the school system out of more than $100,000. That case is scheduled to be heard in Fairfax County District Court in February.

“The timing probably is coincidental,” said FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza. “On the other hand, it is so unfortunate when we’re able to identify situations like these.”

Soderberg is currently scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 7 in Fairfax County General District Court. No attorney information is yet listed for him in court records.

What happened with this? Rumor had it that the school didn't want these computers anymore, so he took them/fixed them and then sold them.

What ever happened to honesty and integrity? Too often replaced by "What's in it for me?"

the FCPS is falling behind.

please let us increase borrowing to get all employees and students laptops before we fall behind the curve

(broken peices of crap they sell for extra cash)

Please let us tell you because we have laptops we have to continually upgrade them and we'll be knocking on your door to "collect"

Audit of Fairfax County warehouse finds lax inventory controls
Security, procedural changes recommended at facility
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20140319/NEWS/140319124/1117/audit-of-fairfax-county-warehouse-finds-lax-inventory-controls&template=fairfaxTimes

A Fairfax County auditor is recommending security and procedural changes for the county’s surplus property warehouse after a school system employee was charged with stealing computers from the facility.

The county government and Fairfax County Public Schools share a 750,000-square-foot warehouse space in Springfield to store office furniture, computers, cell phones, televisions, vehicles and other equipment.

In addition to storing and redistributing supplies among county agencies and schools, staff at the warehouse operations — which are separately managed even though they share a roof — are responsible for selling or recycling items that the county no longer needs. The sale and disposal of surplus goods raised about $4 million in fiscal 2013.

In January, the manager of the school system’s side of the warehouse, Alexandria resident Craig Soderberg, resigned and was charged with two counts of embezzlement for allegedly stealing computers from the warehouse. Police said that they found more than 1,200 laptops in his home.

Following the incident, the office of the auditor to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, examined security procedures and the internal controls used to track warehouse inventory.

“We found that neither the schools nor the county had adequate internal controls,” said Jessica Tucker, acting auditor to the board.

The county warehouse employees use Excel spreadsheets to track inventory in the warehouse, but there is no password protection or procedural limitation on which employees can access the spreadsheets, according to the draft March audit report.

The report recommends that the Fairfax County Department of Purchasing and Supply Management, which runs the county side of the warehouse, use an inventory tracking system that offers more control of user access and provides for an audit function.

In the Soderberg case, other employees alerted authorities to the possible theft.

There is also very little physical security used to safeguard items that would be the most tempting to thieves, like cell phones and computers. For example, the report states that surplus cell phones are currently stored in an employee’s cubicle.

Because of the theft, the school system’s procurement office was already working on improving its control procedures and researching improvements to physical security, such as installing security cameras and cages for the areas where computers and other items at high risk of theft are stored.

On the county side, however, the Facilities Management Department, which is responsible for building maintenance, still has not addressed recommendations made by a private security consultant the county hired in 2008, according to the report.

These include: installing card readers at doors leading to restricted areas, installing security cameras, and installing alarms on emergency exit doors to restrict them to exit only.

Tucker said that employees she spoke with indicated cost was a factor in why they had not made recommended upgrades, even though she believes they are relatively low-cost items.

Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesvile), chairman of the Board of Supervisors Audit Committee, said he will ask the full board to endorse the recommendations and also state that there will be a follow-up audit in six months.

“This is obviously very serious,” Foust said.

While the county can’t implement the recommendations on the school side, the board will pass the recommendations on to its counterparts on the county school board.

Fairfax County agencies respond to warehouse security concerns
Auditor’s report found that county fell short on tracking inventory
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20140409/NEWS/140408977/1117/fairfax-county-agencies-respond-to-warehouse-security-concerns&template=fairfaxTimes

Fairfax County Executive Ed Long is responding to the findings of a recent audit report that cited lax security controls at the county’s central warehouse.

Last month, the acting auditor to the Board of Supervisors, Jessica Tucker, recommended security upgrades and procedural changes at the warehouse, which is also used by the public school system. Her office reviewed protocols there after a theft in January.

The auditor’s report stated that the county did not have sufficient inventory tracking or physical security measures in place to prevent future theft. For example, she said inventory is tracked on unsecured Excel spreadsheets.

However, in an April 3 memorandum responding to the report, Long said that most of the materials stored at the warehouse have little or no value and said that the inventory tracking systems in place are sufficient for detecting theft.

Most of the materials stored in the Department of Purchasing and Supply Management’s section of the warehouse have little or no street value, according to Long’s memo. These include pallets of blank forms for county agencies, carpet tiles and art supplies and sports equipment for Park Authority programs.

There are also secure, caged areas where voting equipment and Health Department supplies are stored.

While the county does earn more than $3 million per year from selling and recycling surplus equipment, only a small percentage of those items ever go through the warehouse – primarily low-value items, Long said. Most surplus material is sold via online auction from the department getting rid of it.

The 800 items sold through the warehouse in fiscal 2013 generated about $46,000 in revenue, according to Long.

One concern cited in the audit report was critical of the storage of surplus cell phones and Blackberries at an employee’s cubicle. Long’s memo states that these items are boxed by lot for auction and stored in a locked file cabinet in a supervisor’s cubicle.

Surplus computers are valued only $5 to $15, Long’s memo said, and are stored on shrink-wrapped pallets until they are sold. He said the county’s e-waste contractor provides detailed manifests.

“Thus, an unauthorized diversion of the equipment by any party would be readily identified,” he wrote.

The Department of Facilities Management estimated that it will cost about $157,000 to implement the physical security measures recommended in the auditor’s report.

Long said county officials are reviewing whether the upgrades are warranted. However, he notes that a review by the U.S. Department of Justice Marshal’s Service last year found no security concerns. The county warehouse is a regional storage and distribution point for the “Strategic National Stockpile,” a repository of vaccines, medications and medical supplies to respond to bioterrorism or a pandemic.

The audit report also identified concerns with the portion of the warehouse operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The theft uncovered in January was allegedly by a supervisor on the schools’ side of the warehouse.

FCPS was already working on improvements to its physical security and internal controls prior to the audit report, in response to the theft.