SAP Palo Alto vice president arrested for LEGO scam Crimes & Incidents, posted by Editor, Palo Alto Online, on May 21, 2012 at 6:49 pm
The vice president of Palo Alto software firm SAP Labs, LLC will be charged on Tuesday with four felony burglary charges for allegedly pasting fraudulent barcodes on LEGO toys at local Target stores, authorities said.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, May 21, 2012, 6:42 PM
Posted by talk to Meg, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on May 21, 2012 at 6:49 pm
What does EBay have to say about this scam? How long has he been fencing stolen merchandise on EBay? How much commission has EBay made from these sales? How could EBay claim ignorance that such a large volume of brand new name brand products was not stolen?
How much other stolen goods does EBay help to fence? What percentage of EBay's profits comes from fencing stolen goods?
Posted by Wondering?, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 21, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Another VP with a little too much time on his hands. Or will it turn out that he is just underpaid and needs to augment his income "moonlighting" the only way he knows how?
Posted by SOLON, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 21, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Title to stolen property never passes. If he is charged with theft of the merchandise, all 200 buyers can be contacted and they must return the items to Target or to the police, and they don't get their money back. Of course, many knew they were stolen. WHy would one person have more than a few new items to discharge at a loss?
If he is charged with felony fraud, target may not be able to get them back, e.g., he "bought" the items, just still owes the money, and the crime is not intending to pay.
Or, if he entered the store with intent to commit a felony, e g fraud, then that is burglary, even of the discounted items weren't "stolen."
A review should be done of all his work at SAP
Was he the one overseeing Palo Alto's ever increasing cost contract with SAP for utility billing?
Posted by Boston-Blackie, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 22, 2012 at 6:52 am
> The e-Bay buyers knew the items were stolen.
> WHy would one person have more than a few new items to
> discharge at a loss?
This statement is not very cogent. The world is full of left over "stuff" that was intended for a retail outlet, but was not sold. Stores go out of business, or get into financial trouble, and stock ("stuff") is sold, or traded, to cover debts, or pay for services in kind. This happens every day in the world of "small business".
Unfortunately, it's difficult to know what's stolen, or not, when one buys from a flea market, a advertisement in the classifieds, or e-Bay. There is no reason to believe that if it's for sale from a source other than a store-front that it's been stolen.
Posted by Mr. Ironic, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 22, 2012 at 8:51 am
I always wondered why the lego sets my son wanted were always sold out. I doubt he will have to do anything but pay a fine but I hope he gets fired its hard to trust a person like that.
Posted by HaHa...People!, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on May 22, 2012 at 1:06 pm
I had a great uncle who was a protestant minister, made a comfortable living, one wife, three nice children. One day when he was about 54 years old, he was caught shoplifting CHEWING GUM at a pharmacy. We humans can be really strange creatures. I mean, go figure!
Posted by Dave, a resident of the Evergreen Park neighborhood, on May 22, 2012 at 5:18 pm
He was just trying to find the legos homes. They get lonely sitting on the store shelves. If you really want to embarrass Target, paste new bar codes on for twice the price and let people complain when they're charged too much!
Posted by DDee, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on May 22, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Past and more recent studies have told us what we prefer not to know... that a significant percentage of the 1.1% and people doing well above ordinary in our country (and elsewhere) are sociopaths.
There is a long long string of weird illegal behaviors on the top. This is one kind, Maddoff and JPMorgan Chase another... all reflect the same sense of self-entitlement, inability to reason ethically and absolute lack of empathy for others further down the food chain.
Furthermore, since they have done so well, they have convinced a large number of the rest of us that their way is the "correct and proper" way to get ahead and do well. They have tried to turn our entire country into a cult of Ayn Rand and done a pretty good job of it.
Posted by jb, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on May 22, 2012 at 5:57 pm
It's a good idea to scan the items you buy at Target—not so good to change the barcodes, though.
The last time I scanned the barcode for a Yoga Journal at Target, it scanned for $8.99 although the magazine was marked for $5.99. This was a month after I had bought an earlier issue of the magazine and only noticed later that my receipt said "$8.99." I returned to customer service and found that the only way they could refund my overpayment was to enter it at a "Sale price" of $5.99 and refund the excess. I complained to the clerk on duty as a supervisor, the only authority I could find on duty. I guess my complaint didn't go far, judging by my experience scanning another issue of the magazine a month later. Still marked $5.99 and selling at $8.99!
Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on May 22, 2012 at 6:14 pm
There are some good & funny comments on this thread.
DDee - excellent post. Have you ever read The Psychopath Next Door? I took it w/a good dose of salt, but this story reminds me of a case that would be profiled in that book - the type of thing that seems unnecessary & leaves everyone scratching their head & feeling disgusted.
Maybe when he gets out, he can get a job w/Oracle.
Posted by Lego Lover, a resident of Menlo Park, on May 22, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Isn't this story also a cry for making Lego stuff cheaper? I do love Lego but the prices Tommy suggested sound much more reasonable. I hope Lego gets the message :-)
Posted by maguro_01, a resident of Mountain View, on May 23, 2012 at 5:00 am
DDee - good post. I've done part time work for such an individual with his own business. It's the most demeaning experience of my life and would be debasing if I internalized it. The guy underpaid taxes as a lot of his business was and is in cash and doesn't pay for unemployment and all that. His withholding references indentures me to the job.
Sure enough, his sense of rectitude and entitlement are monumental and Ayn Rand/Atlas Shrugged is his Bible. He spends many happy hours listening to Rush on the radio. It's amusing that for both Libertarians and Communists, when the Millennium comes the State shall wither away...
Posted by daniel, a resident of the Embarcadero Oaks/Leland neighborhood, on May 23, 2012 at 7:48 am
This strange story reminds of the uniformly terrible description of Meg Whitman by her former domestic employees. Despite being a billionaire, she was a notoriously cheapskate, underpaid loyal domestic employees, was fond of withholding salaries, argued about every penny and mistreated them to boot.
Posted by Go Figure, a resident of the Palo Alto Hills neighborhood, on May 23, 2012 at 9:18 am
Not surprised, much like politics evokes a path for the scum of the earth rise to the top, In high tech business it's the same. This suit has cheated, lied, and manipulated his way to the top, and for that you are greatly rewarded in Silicon Valley.
Posted by Observer, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on May 23, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Please don't make inaccurate generalizations about what it takes to be successful here. Silicon Valley does have scumbags in it, however, I know many hard working, ethical people who have risen by their own efforts and continue to add much to the local economy and community. By making these rash statements, you demean the majority, which is unfortunate and not very smart. The reason this story is so striking is that it is so unusual for someone with his profile to be anything but a good, earnest, smart contributor.
Posted by Dominic, a member of the Jordan Middle School community, on May 23, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Come on people have some compassion - the guy's a VP at a billion dollar company living in a multi-million dollar house. The real factor behind this is not criminality and money making but mental illness. If you notice he is from Germany and has probably warped out living on his own. A feature of his illness is obviously that he developed some kind of obsession and fetish with Lego. This guy should categorically not be punished, he should be given urgent psychiatric help.
Posted by Too bad, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on May 23, 2012 at 9:07 pm
This vid shows what his house in San Carlos looks like: Web Link
He lived alone? He was driving a minivan.
I'll bet he tried it and when it worked and was easy, he got addicted. They needn't post his photo - he is not a violent criminal who is a danger to the public. Although, he can change his glasses and blend into society.
Posted by Sharon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 23, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Re the mental illness defense
Nonsense--he was selling stolen property on E Bay for a huge profit.
If he committed fraud and theft in this matter imagine what fraud and theft he committed at SAP on the company and stockholders.
If convicted he will go go to prison for a long time and the SEC and IRS will be next in line for further prosecutions--not to mention the civil litigations.
Posted by Dominic, a member of the Jordan Middle School community, on May 24, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Honestly I don't think you will find many people doing this ludicrous crime and "slipping by". He clearly didn't need to do this bizarre crime. Although he was making some money from it, if you compare his profits to what he will lose in employee benefits and salary, legal fees etc... it clearly wasn't in his interests. This guy did this because he developed some kind of compulsive disorder. He has now ruined his life, which is punishment enough, if think he needs a punishment. Incarcerating people who have developed mental illness is a waste of taxpayers money and in cases like this probably immoral. He needs treatment...
Posted by Spring Hill Voice, a resident of another community, on Jun 15, 2012 at 9:10 am
In Queensalnd Australia, this company SAP installed a payroll system for our state's health system.
It was an immense failure. Search "Queensland Health Payroll" for general details.
Thousands of employees underpaid, others overpiad with police knocking on their doors to claim back money.
All this has cost us hundreds of millions of dollars - and there was nothing wrong with the original payroll system. It was one of those things where the politicians secretly do a deal to spend huge amounts of our money on something we don't need without asking us what we think.
You know "Fox"? In Australia about 90% of ALL of our media is essentially run by Rupert Murdoch - he even controls what we see on the public service (ABC).
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