By Cecilia Razak, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A former consultant for Anheuser-Busch has been convicted of transporting nearly $400,000 of stolen computer hardware belonging to his employer over state lines. Jack Walter Barrett, Jr. reportedly took the expensive hardware shortly after he began working for Anheuser-Busch in 2006.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for auctioning the goods off on eBay and transporting them around the country, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced Tuesday.
Barrett worked on site as an information technology consultant at the Anheuser-Busch Companies in St. Louis. He had access to the brewery's technology infrastructure and confessed to stealing hardware from July of 2006 to January of 2008. Barrett pleaded guilty, admitting he brought the goods home and sold them on eBay at greatly discounted prices to unwitting buyers.
The court convicted Barrett of one felony count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. In addition to serving his sentence, Barrett must pay a $376,839 restitution.