Eduardo C. Partida made hundreds of thousands of dollars from stealing toner cartridges and selling them on, and will spend six months in prison.
The Recycler reported in November 2014 on Partida’s guilty plea to tax fraud in South Gate, California, having spent four years between 2005 and 2009 stealing toner cartridges from his employers, selling them on for personal profits, and making a “false statement” on his tax returns as a result.
CBS Local has now reported that Partida was sentenced on Monday 23 February to six months in federal prison for filing a false tax return, though he had faced a maximum sentence of three years or a fine of $250,000 (€199,421) and a possibility of being “ordered to pay restitution to the government”.
Partida worked for Ikon Office Solutions West Inc., which provides office supplies in the area, and was assigned to work at Hilton Worldwide’s business office in Beverly Hills, in the mail room, where his duties included “ordering office supplies, handling shipping and receiving, and fixing, office machines”.
From November 2005 onwards, Partida “misappropriated” toner cartridges from the office, selling them on for “personal profit” in the form of cheques, which he deposited in “one of three bank accounts held in his name” and later spent on “personal and family expenses”. Admitting to US District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez in November 2014 that he had “received unreported income” of around $240,990 (€192,233) for the four years, Partida “entered his guilty plea” for the charge of filing a false tax return.
His income cost the US government a tax loss of around $49,000 (€39,086), with $14,600 (€11,646) of his earnings in 2009 the money included in the specific count against him – tax loss in this year for the government was $2,235 (€1,782).