Man Accused of Selling Stolen Laptops On Ebay

Reported by Harold F. Cobin

A former employee of a Wilton laundry products company was arrested by warrant last Wednesday on a felony larceny charge for allegedly stealing 16 laptop computers that he posted for sale on Ebay.

Capt. John Lynch said the alleged thefts were discovered in March when the Sun Products Co., 60 Danbury Rd., was advised by the security office of Dell Computer that someone had attempted to change the record of ownership for a laptop sold to Sun.

The company found the laptop had never been assigned to an employee, and further investigation revealed 15 other unassigned laptops were also missing. Lynch said the company learned the initial missing laptop was sold on Ebay to someone in Spokane, Wash., and contacted police there. Spokane Police recovered the stolen laptop and shipped it to Wilton Police. The company valued the cost of the laptops at more than $13,000.

Wilton Police allege the seller of the laptop was Sun Products employee Pedro Juan Soto, 26, of 144 Coleman St., Apt. 3, Bridgeport. Soto turned himself in a police headquarters and was charged with second-degree larceny by embezzlement.

After processing, Soto was released on a promise to appear in court May 20. Lynch said six more of the laptops have been recovered from various locations throughout the country.