Man arrested for sale of stolen Union 7 computers

PORTLAND – A bail hearing is scheduled Monday for a Biddeford man arrested in Alaska on charges of trying to sell school computers on eBay.

Timothy G. Diehl, 49, was arrested Monday in Sitka, Alaska, on wire fraud charges, said U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby.

Diehl, who worked for Maine School Union 7, was accused of defrauding his former employer during the summer and fall of 2000 by selling computers purchased by the school district, she said.

Diehl sold 17 new computers on eBay, said Detective Corey Huntress of the Saco Police Department, which worked with the FBI on the investigation.

Diehl was hired as a technology director in January 1998 to buy computers for the Saco-Dayton school district. He resigned March 3, 2001, after being asked to account for a $40,000 budget shortfall, according to court documents.

In December 2001, an Apple Computer representative called the school district to investigate a report that a Rochester, N.Y., woman had applied for a rebate on a new Macintosh Power Book that she bought. However, company records showed it had been sold to Union 7.

Superintendent Elaine Tomaszewski reported the discrepancy to Saco police and called for an audit of the school district’s computer purchases. She discovered that 17 computers worth more than $23,000 were unaccounted for.

“The computers were being sold all over the world,” Huntress said.

According to an affidavit written by FBI Agent John Dennison, eBay sales records showed a dozen transactions involving computers, described by Diehl as “new in the box” to buyers in California, Maryland and Massachusetts.

If convicted, Diehl would face up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, Diehl said.