Man Is Given 6 Months For Stealing Computers

A 28-year-old Hyattsville man was sentenced to six months in federal prison Tuesday for stealing nearly $50,000 in computers and other related goods from the D.C. public schools.

Hakeem Blaize, a former D.C. schools employee, stole about 20 computers, five projectors and more than 70 printer toner cartridges between December 2006 and October 2008, federal prosecutors wrote in court papers.

Blaize, who pleaded guilty in April to the interstate transportation of stolen goods, was caught in part because of sophisticated tracking software that had been installed on several of the stolen laptops, authorities said.

Federal prosecutors said Blaize deserved a prison sentence because he stole repeatedly from the city's schools and hurt the system's students.

"This is the D.C. public schools, and it can ill afford to have computer equipment and things of value stolen," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Hibarger said at a brief hearing Tuesday. "Schools and children should be sacrosanct."

Blaize was contrite. "I'm really remorseful," he told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

In addition to sentencing Blaize to six months in prison, the judge ordered Blaize to pay the D.C. schools nearly $35,000 in restitution. She said the crime was "a serious offense" because Blaize had deprived students of critical tools they need in today's technology-driven world.

Authorities said the FBI began investigating the thefts in late 2007. Agents soon learned that some of the computers were equipped with tracking software, which alerted a monitoring station to their locations.

The stolen computers were tracked to Illinois, Virginia, Maryland and Nigeria, an FBI agent wrote in court papers.

The FBI eventually traced some of the stolen computers to a man in Virginia, who became a cooperating witness, authorities said.

Between July and September 2008, the FBI recorded Blaize selling six stolen laptops to the witness, authorities said.