Elaborate Silicon Valley Computer Chip Heist Lands Transient In Jail

REDWOOD CITY, CA — A transient man has been sentenced to four years in jail for stealing about $300,000 worth of computer chips in 2015 from a San Carlos technology company, San Mateo County prosecutors said.

Jose Padella-Jimenez, 31, was convicted of burglarizing Alliance Memory on Aug. 4, 2015. On March 8 of this year a jury found him guilty of felony burglary and felony grand theft.

Padella-Jimenez worked with at least one other person, but he has never revealed his accomplice or accomplices, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Prosecutors said Padella-Jimenez and at least one other person got into the business by removing wooden panels in the bottom of a wall to the business and cutting a hole through the sheetrock. They stayed low to the ground to avoid surveillance cameras and motion-sensor lights. They chose the entry location because it led them to an office where some of the company's computer chips were stored.

Padella-Jimenez and the other person or persons pushed boxes of computer chips through the entry they made and put them into a van they stole from another business, according to prosecutors.

Padella-Jimenez stole $241,000 worth of computer chips with a resale value of more than $300,000.
Investigators recovered the van that same night and inside found Alliance Memory labels.

Investigators never obtained good evidence from surveillance camera but they noticed a constant flickering from a flashlight in the footage.

DNA tests confirmed that a flashlight used by Padella-Jimenez was found in the office where the computer chips were stored.

Padella-Jimenez will have to pay $317,590.60 in restitution to Alliance Memory, Wagstaffe said.

Padella-Jimenez's attorney Alex Bernstein was not available for comment.

— By Bay City News Service / Image via Shutterstock