March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Charges brought in chip heist > Eight arrested in four states after confession leads to FBI sting

BANGOR — Eight people from four states, including Maine, were charged Friday with last fall’s armed robbery of nearly $700,000 worth of computer chips from an Augusta manufacturer.

According to complaints unsealed in U.S. District Court Friday afternoon, three of those charged are current or former employees of SCI Systems Inc. — Joseph Boulette II of Augusta, Jonathan Condriet of Gardiner and Amy Legasse of Hallowell. A fourth defendant, Shawn Barnes of West Gardiner, was previously employed by SCI’s predecessor, Digital Equipment Corp.

Ages for the defendants were not available.

Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavits filed with the complaints report that Augusta police responded to a 911 call from SCI shortly after 8 p.m. on Oct. 15, 1995.

Officers who answered the call learned that a masked man carrying a revolver and duct tape, and wearing heavy surgical gloves, entered SCI — which operates around the clock — and ordered a security guard to lie on the floor. When the guard didn’t move quickly enough, the robber struck him with his hand, court documents say.

The robber then bound and gagged the guard and two other SCI employees with the duct tape. Shortly thereafter, a second robber entered the building wearing a mask and pushing a dolly. One robber entered a secured room where computer components were stored, while another dismantled and removed a tape and VCR from behind the security desk.

SCI reported that 5,400 chips — used for memory storage in personal computers and valued at approximately $700,000 — were taken during the robbery.

According to court documents, Legasse, Boulette, and Condriet allegedly met at Legasse’s Hallowell home last September and October to plan the robbery. Boulette allegedly studied SCI’s security operation while Legasse allegedly supplied the Grim Reaper Halloween masks, the surgical gloves and the dolly.

At some point last fall, Legasse called Barnes, who allegedly provided her with the part numbers to the types of chips he could sell at his Wiscasset computer business. Condriet, according to court documents, told Legasse where the parts were located at the plant.

The court documents allege that on Oct. 15, Legasse and Boulette met with Roger Wheelock of Mount Vernon, who was to carry the revolver during the robbery, and that night Condriet and Wheelock entered the SCI building and removed the computer chips while Boulette waited outside in the getaway car.

After the robbery, Barnes allegedly traveled to Boston and Southboro, Mass., to sell the computer chips to Robert Gardner of Middleton, R.I., and Michael Sham of Richboro, Pa. Last summer, Barnes also had sold to Todd Bradley of Framingham, Mass., and Sham about $500,000 worth of computer chips stolen from SCI by Legasse, Boulette and Condriet, court documents allege.

In all, the defendants allegedly stole nearly $1.2 million in chips from the company last year.

Police apparently suspected the robbery was an inside job because there was no forced access to the secure storage room, according to an affidavit. On Jan. 18, 1996, a little more than three months after the robbery, Barnes was the first to be charged.

When interviewed by the FBI earlier this month, Barnes allegedly confessed to the conspiracy and implicated the others, court documents show. On Thursday, Barnes participated in the sting by meeting in Massachusetts with Robert Gardner and his brother, Donald, to buy more chips. When they arrived at the motel to pick up the chips, the Gardners were arrested.

Bradley also was arrested Thursday in Massachusetts, while Sham was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania, said U.S. Attorney Jay P. McCloskey.

“That case, for all intents and purposes, has been wrapped up,” McCloskey said during an afternoon press conference.

According to court documents, Boulette, Condriet, Legasse, Barnes, and Wheelock are charged with conspiracy to obstruct interstate commerce by robbery; carrying and abetting the carrying of a firearm during a crime of violence; and interstate transportation of stolen computer chips.

Gardner, Bradley, and Sham are charged with conspiracy to transport and transporting the stolen chips. In addition, Bradley and the Gardners were charged in a separate complaint with conspiracy to transport the 5,000 chips that were used in the FBI sting.

Penalties range from five-year prison terms for each charge of conspiracy to transport the chips to 20 years for each of the robbery charges. The defendants also could face fines of up to $250,000 for each charge.


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