Three men are accused of “illegally relocating” thousands of Fairfax County, Virginia, Public Schools’ laptops.
Franque Minor II, 35, of Maryland, and Mario Jones Jr., 21, of Woodbridge, Virginia, were arrested and charged with embezzlement and larceny with the intent to distribute.
Fadi Atiyeh, 36, of Centreville, Virginia, was charged with receiving stolen property and larceny with the intent to distribute.
According to police, a box truck registered to Attyah Computer Recycling in Ashburn traveled multiple times to a warehouse in the 6800 block of Industrial Road in Springfield, where the laptops were being stored.
The laptops were set to be auctioned.
The driver of the truck would not exit the vehicle nor provide the necessary paperwork required to receive auctioned goods, according to police.
Laptops and computer parts would be loaded into the truck, and the driver would leave. Through the detective’s investigation, two warehouse employees were identified as facilitating the unlawful transactions, according to police.
On Thursday, detectives were conducting surveillance at the warehouse and saw the truck arrive at the location. The truck was stopped, police said, and stolen laptops were found in the vehicle.
Atiyeh, an employee of Attyah Computer Recycling, was the truck’s driver, police said. Additional evidence was recovered at the business, they said, after a search warrant was executed.
Later that day, detectives arrested Minor and Jones, who were both warehouse workers employed by Fairfax County Public Schools.
Preliminarily, detectives say that as many as 35,000 laptops were stolen with an estimated value of over $2 million, dating back to November 2020.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call detectives at 703-256-8035. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477) or online.
