Ex-student charged in theft of 55 Apple laptops from UCLA
A former UCLA student was charged Friday in connection with stealing 55 Apple laptops from his alma mater’s campus, prosecutors said.
Seyed Ali Pakizehkar Hesari, 29, of Los Angeles was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of stealing the MacBooks, valued at $33,000, from a campus library and student union on Sept. 28 and Nov. 8. Police said they found the laptops inside his home in the 6900 block of Melrose Avenue.
He broke a window to gain entry to at least one of the locations, prosecutors said.
Hesari, who is not enrolled at UCLA, was studying history as an undergraduate as recently as March. He was arrested after investigators, acting on an anonymous tip, approached Hesari at a recreational center.
According to UCLA, he was wearing Bruins sweatpants and shoes similar to those seen in surveillance video taken from one of the break-ins.
Hesari was charged Friday with two felony counts each of grand theft of personal property exceeding $950 and second-degree commercial burglary, one felony count of vandalism over $400 and one misdemeanor count of giving false information to a police officer, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
He faces a maximum sentence of four years and eight months in state prison if convicted of all charges.
His bail was set at more than $60,000.
Follow the reporter on Twitter: @JasonBretWells
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