By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 10, 2006

A 17-year-old Silver Spring teenager implicated in the theft of computer equipment that contained personal information about millions of veterans and active-duty military personnel was charged this summer with murder in a Wheaton slaying that occurred a few days after the burglary.

Robert Goodwin has not been charged in the May 3 burglary, but Montgomery County detectives identified him in court documents as one of the burglars who stole a laptop and external hard drive from the Aspen Hill home of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs analyst. The temporary loss of the equipment has been described as the most serious breach of government data in history.

Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said yesterday that charges against Goodwin in the burglary case are pending. The Post is publishing his name because he has been charged as an adult in the murder case.

Goodwin's attorney in that case, Michael Woll, said he was not aware of the allegations against his client in the laptop case.

Goodwin and two of his brothers were charged in the slaying of Josue A. Lagos-Rivera, who was beaten May 10 in Wheaton Forrest Park. A fourth man also was charged in the killing.

Goodwin is expected to plead guilty this month to one count of manslaughter in the killing, according to a plea memorandum outlining the agreement he reached with Montgomery County prosecutors.

Jesus A. Pineda and Christian B. Montano, both 19, were charged last weekend with theft and burglary in the laptop case. A detective wrote in their charging documents that an unidentified informant, who returned the computer equipment to authorities June 28, last week recanted the original story about how the informant came to possess the laptop and implicated the two men and the teenager.