Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Man charged in connection with Xerox ink thefts

Tacoma, Wash., man charged over the fraudulent sale of nearly $500,000 worth of purloined Xerox solid ink

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 2/4/2010 1:52:39 PM

A Tacoma man was arrested Jan. 29 following a police raid on his home that uncovered hundreds of Xerox ink sticks allegedly stolen from the company’s Wilsonville factory.

Terry Gaines, 57, now faces 42 separate counts of possessing stolen property and money laundering in connection with his alleged sale of nearly a half-million dollars worth of stolen solid ink sticks.

Pierce County, Wash., authorities began investigating Gaines last March after they were alerted about his alleged fraudulent dealings on the online auction site eBay by a Xerox corporate investigator. The investigator was looking into the ongoing theft by a Xerox employee of solid ink from the company’s Wilsonville campus, where all its solid ink products are manufactured.

As part of the investigation, police said, investigators purchased ink sticks on eBay from a person later identified as Gaines. The ink was being sold for barely half its market value. In one case, Gaines reportedly sold four three-strip packs of Xerox Phaser 8400 ink for $233.25, compared with a listed retail value of $425.

Investigation into the allegations also uncovered over $115,000 in payments from Gaines to an employee at the Wilsonville facility between March 2005 and March 2009 using the online financial service PayPal. That employee, police said, told investigators he borrowed the money from Gaines and denied supplying him with stolen ink.

In April 2009, a police detective went to Gaines’ house to question him. The detective found hundreds of ink sticks of different colors in the house, according to court records.

Gaines told the detective he couldn’t remember where he got the ink, saying he might have purchased it on online.

Police continued working with Xerox investigators to make a case, which culminated this week with the issuance of the arrest warrant for Gaines.

It remains unclear if the case is related to the April 2009 arrest of Beaverton man Ayad Al-Musawi on multiple charges of first-degree aggravated theft in connection with the discovery of nearly 10,000 stolen ink sticks at his home.

Al-Musawi was arrested by Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies with a haul of ink worth over $275,000. Some of the ink already was packaged for shipment after being sold via eBay. Most of the ink seized was for Xerox  Phaser and Typhoon model printers.

At the same time, it appears likely the two cases are connected, given that Gaines first was identified as possibly being involved in the caper just after Al-Musawi’s arrest last April.

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