Fremont Heist: Tech Task Force Arrest Five Recovers $37M In Chips
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In what's believed to be the largest chip robbery in Bay Area history, a high-tech crime task force has arrested five men -- including four from San Jose -- and recovered $37 million worth of chips stolen at gunpoint from a Fremont semiconductor company.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen on Wednesday announced the arrests in the Feb. 27 robbery at Unigen.
A six-week investigation led by the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, known as REACT, led to a small Bay Area storage garage, where investigators found 1.7 million flash memory chips manufactured by Intel (INTC).
The chips recently had been shipped to Unigen, where workers were assembling printed circuit boards for delivery to Google (GOOG), according to Michael Sterner, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office and director of the REACT task force.
Authorities arrested five men who prosecutors believe took part in an orchestrated takeover-style robbery.
Over a span of 10 days that ended April 7, investigators arrested four San Jose men -- Jesus Meraz Jr., 25, Dylan Catayas Lee, 32, Rolando McKay Secreto, 38, and Leonard Abriam, 31 -- and Pierre Ramos, 28, of Union City.
The
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five men all face a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the charges, which include armed robbery and kidnapping for robbery, Rosen said.
The California Attorney General's Office in Alameda County is prosecuting the case.
Because the investigation is ongoing, with as many as 10 additional suspects still at-large, Rosen and other law enforcement officials held back several details about the case, including the exact location of the storage area where most of the chips were found.
Investigators said a small percentage of the stolen chips were taken out of the country and ended up in Asia.
Although law enforcement officials would not provide specifics about the heist -- including whether it was an inside job -- Rosen acknowledged that the robbers would have needed "connections to sell" the chips.
Authorities said the robbery occurred about 8:40 on a Sunday morning, when 12 to 15 people armed with rifles and handguns and wearing gloves and masks broke into Unigen's 95,000 square-foot facility on Warm Springs Boulevard and entered the gated office park by cutting through or going over a fence near the company's loading dock.
The robbers blindfolded five employees and forced them into a back room, prosecutors said. The robbers then loaded several dozen cardboard boxes containing the computer chips onto a large truck and drove off.
The bust comes at a time when the future of REACT -- a multiagency task force directed by the District Attorney's Office -- is in doubt.
Funding for REACT, as well as four other high-tech crime task forces in California, is set to expire in June. The task forces are funded through revenue generated by the state's vehicle licensing fees. The Bay Area task force -- which investigates high-tech crimes in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco counties -- receives about $1.8 million from the state and $200,000 from Santa Clara County.
"In the same way these criminals got together to do this takeover robbery, it takes a task force to bring them to custody," Rosen said. "They have their tentacles all over parts of the Bay Area, so we need to have officers that are from all over the Bay Area working together.
"Without a task force like REACT, it's unlikely this would have been solved," Rosen said.
WACK !!!!! I THOUGHT YOU MEANT LIKE CASINO CHIPS OR MAYBE EVEN FUCKIN PRINGLES OR DORITOS BREH!!! FUCKIN COMPUTER CHIPS FUCK THOSE!!!
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen on Wednesday announced the arrests in the Feb. 27 robbery at Unigen.
A six-week investigation led by the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, known as REACT, led to a small Bay Area storage garage, where investigators found 1.7 million flash memory chips manufactured by Intel (INTC).
The chips recently had been shipped to Unigen, where workers were assembling printed circuit boards for delivery to Google (GOOG), according to Michael Sterner, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office and director of the REACT task force.
Authorities arrested five men who prosecutors believe took part in an orchestrated takeover-style robbery.
Over a span of 10 days that ended April 7, investigators arrested four San Jose men -- Jesus Meraz Jr., 25, Dylan Catayas Lee, 32, Rolando McKay Secreto, 38, and Leonard Abriam, 31 -- and Pierre Ramos, 28, of Union City.
The
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five men all face a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the charges, which include armed robbery and kidnapping for robbery, Rosen said.
The California Attorney General's Office in Alameda County is prosecuting the case.
Because the investigation is ongoing, with as many as 10 additional suspects still at-large, Rosen and other law enforcement officials held back several details about the case, including the exact location of the storage area where most of the chips were found.
Investigators said a small percentage of the stolen chips were taken out of the country and ended up in Asia.
Although law enforcement officials would not provide specifics about the heist -- including whether it was an inside job -- Rosen acknowledged that the robbers would have needed "connections to sell" the chips.
Authorities said the robbery occurred about 8:40 on a Sunday morning, when 12 to 15 people armed with rifles and handguns and wearing gloves and masks broke into Unigen's 95,000 square-foot facility on Warm Springs Boulevard and entered the gated office park by cutting through or going over a fence near the company's loading dock.
The robbers blindfolded five employees and forced them into a back room, prosecutors said. The robbers then loaded several dozen cardboard boxes containing the computer chips onto a large truck and drove off.
The bust comes at a time when the future of REACT -- a multiagency task force directed by the District Attorney's Office -- is in doubt.
Funding for REACT, as well as four other high-tech crime task forces in California, is set to expire in June. The task forces are funded through revenue generated by the state's vehicle licensing fees. The Bay Area task force -- which investigates high-tech crimes in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco counties -- receives about $1.8 million from the state and $200,000 from Santa Clara County.
"In the same way these criminals got together to do this takeover robbery, it takes a task force to bring them to custody," Rosen said. "They have their tentacles all over parts of the Bay Area, so we need to have officers that are from all over the Bay Area working together.
"Without a task force like REACT, it's unlikely this would have been solved," Rosen said.
WACK !!!!! I THOUGHT YOU MEANT LIKE CASINO CHIPS OR MAYBE EVEN FUCKIN PRINGLES OR DORITOS BREH!!! FUCKIN COMPUTER CHIPS FUCK THOSE!!!
