Customs Officer sentenced for Computer theft
A Federal judge sentenced a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer to two years probation on Friday for stealing a computer.
John Joseph Rendzia, Jr., 42, of Norfolk, had admitted guilty to embezzlement and conversion of an airline passenger's laptop computer.
Rendzia was on duty as a CBP supervisor at the Philadelphia International Airport on March 19, 2008. A family returning from vacation left a laptop computer in the Customs area, and the laptop was missing when they returned to look for it. The family reported it stolen to airport police, and a CBP officer later found the laptop. The officer turned the computer over to Rendzia, his supervisor.
Rendzia kept the laptop and brought it to Norfolk where he was transferred in August 2008. A computer operating system on the laptop traced it to an address in Norfolk, and special agents of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General obtained a search warrant. Together with agents from the FBI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Norfolk Airport Police, and a detective from the Philadelphia Airport Police, seized the laptop and obtained statements from Rendzia.
Forensic analysis of the laptop by NCIS confirmed that Rendzia had deleted the owner's user profiles, installed new profiles, and converted the computer to his own use.
Aren't Indian Customs officers far better?