A Lynn man who worked as a cleaner for the T stands accused of stealing more than $120,000 worth of computer equipment from the agency and hawking the goods on eBay, according to the Suffolk DA.
Marcelo Batista-Sales, 39, allegedly stole dozens of Cisco Network Modules from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s headquarters, Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said Tuesday.
Batista-Sales was arraigned at Boston Municipal Court in November and charged with larceny over $1,20. He pleaded not guilty. The judge in the case set bail at $2,000 and the condition that the defendant stay away from MBTA headquarters.
Prosecutors said MBTA Transit Police had responded to a report of 40 stolen modules, which are valued at about $3,000 a piece, from the agency’s IT department in September.
A MBTA employee was able to find an eBay account that had sold 51 Cisco Modules and was registered to “marcbatist27.” Following a T Police investigation, Batista-Sales was arrested.
“This is a major theft from a public agency dedicated to moving nearly one million people each day around the metro Boston area, so it’s really a theft from all of us,” Hayden said in a statement. “I thank the MBTA investigators for their work in identifying a person to answer for this offense.”
Batista-Sales is scheduled back in court on Jan. 22 for a pre-trial hearing.
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