A suburban Chicago businessman has been handed a prison sentence for operating a fencing scheme through his retail locations, one being Crestwood Electronics Inc. in Crestwood, Illinois, as per official statements by the Department of Justice. ZIAD I. ZAYED, 49, from Frankfort, Ill., acknowledged his involvement in a conspiracy to deal in stolen goods which included laptops, fitness trackers, and digital cameras, many of which were originally snatched from railcars in the vicinity of Chicago.
Following a guilty plea last year, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman handed down a sentence of 26 months in federal prison to Zayed and mandated restitution exceeding $1.3 million—a reflection of the proceeds accumulated through this illicit operation and prosecutors argued that Zayed's operation fueled further theft and robbery "whether that's off tractor trailers sitting on railcars or phones from innocent victims" according to a government's sentencing memorandum.
Morris Pasqual, the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, along with Douglas S. DePodesta, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, distributed the news of Zayed's fate, emphasizing the consequences of fostering a market for unlawfully acquired merchandise - a market that Zayed built across various fronts, including interstate and international sales.
