IT Professional Pleads Guilty to Selling Stolen MacBooks

Andrew Halvorsen, 49, of Livermore, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Halvorsen worked as the Senior Director of Information Technology for a cloud-based machine data analytics company. In his role at the company, Halvorsen was responsible for ordering Apple MacBooks for company employees. In November 2019, Halvorsen began stealing MacBooks that he ordered and sold for cash to an individual who, in turn, resold and shipped them to buyers outside the state of California. In total, Halvorsen stole and sold at least 141 MacBooks. The cost to his employer of those MacBooks was over $535,000.

This case is a product of an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thuesen is prosecuting the case.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller is scheduled to sentence Halvorsen on April 15, 2024. Halvorsen faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.