

NYC law firm employee convicted of stealing $376,000 worth of copy machine toner - t0dd
http://manhattanda.org/press-release/da-vance-announces-conviction-adrian-rodriguez-stealing-large-quantities-copy-machine-

======
Maxious
There was a corruption scandal in Australia where government employees were
recieving sizable kickbacks for ordering 40 years worth of toner at 3 times
the retail price [http://www.itnews.com.au/News/260705,vic-govt-stung-by-
print...](http://www.itnews.com.au/News/260705,vic-govt-stung-by-print-toner-
scandal.aspx)

~~~
hkmurakami
That sounds like every government purchase of IT systems ever.

(I seem to read news about some US govt department buying IT systems for 3~10x
the price every month)

------
outside1234
Probably about 2 days of overcharging of clients by the firm as a whole, but
he's blue collar, so off to jail with him. Which about sums it all up, really.

~~~
peeters
Embezzlement, which is what this was [1], is a white-collar crime. Just like
overcharging clients. In fact, there's nothing to even suggest that he was a
"blue-collar worker", particularly if he was entrusted with making hundreds of
thousands of dollars of purchases.

Not everything needs to be a socio-economic conspiracy theory. Justice
prevailed here. If you have evidence that this law firm is fraudulently
overcharging its clients, I suggest you present that evidence to the
authorities. In the meantime, don't try to insinuate that this guy was somehow
a victim.

[1] I know technically the conviction was for larceny. Looking at the 3rd
paragraph of the following, it can be seen as a pretty blurry line:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embezzlement#Embezzlement_versu...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embezzlement#Embezzlement_versus_larceny).
Based on the example there, it seems like the charge could just have easily
fit the definition of embezzlement.

~~~
krichman
How is overcharging clients a crime? You mean billing for time that wasn't
actually spent on the client, right?

------
qompiler
That's like 4 Xerox drum cartridges?

------
michaelpinto
Copy toner is the new cocaine!

~~~
hkmurakami
Ironically, Tide detergent actually _is_ the new drug currency:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5023204>

~~~
jmspring
Here in Santa Cruz, bike seat posts and rims are recycled by junkies to get
their next hit.

Frames and other less desirable/recyclable parts are just left as trash.

~~~
hkmurakami
What makes frames less desirable than seat posts, may I ask? (I guess if seat
posts are steel and the frame is aluminum?)

~~~
jmspring
Seatposts and rims seem to be easier to transport and hide in transit.

Common wisdom is a seatpost gets you about $10 which helps towards one's daily
fix.

Actually bike theft around here falls into two categories -- high end that are
shipped out of area quickly and low end which are chopped up and "recycled"
for a quick buck.

Lots of the chop shops have been found of late due to a community effort to
try and clean things up.

------
fleitz
All I can think is if this guy wasn't convicted: "Please tell us about the
time you, most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your
advantage."

~~~
sgpl
He didn't truly hack the system as much as he committed a very dumb
theft/crime.

Between an approximately two year period (Oct 2010 to Dec 2012), he ordered an
amount of toners that greatly exceeded the law firm's usage. This jump in cost
would have been pretty obvious to an auditor/accountant comparing it to the
historical order amount for ink toners & some sanity check.

But because he got away with it for two+ years, makes me wonder whether he
greatly increased these orders after the first year of getting away with it.

~~~
dylangs1030
One could retort that technically any crime is a form of (non-computer) black
hat hacking.

~~~
YokoZar
Especially if you use an axe.

