Ringleader Of $1 Million Computer Heist Sentenced

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY — The ringleader for the theft of more than 1,000 computers bound for New Jersey schools will be going to prison. Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Anton Saljanin, 46, of Yorktown Heights, was sentenced Monday to 48 months in prison for participating in a scheme to steal, transport and sell a shipment of about 1,200 computers valued at more than $1 million, that were supposed to be sent to two public high schools in New Jersey.

Saljanin pleaded not guilty Oct. 18, 2017, to one count of conspiracy to commit theft from an interstate shipment, interstate transportation of stolen property and receipt, possession and sale of stolen property and one count of theft from an interstate shipment.

“Anton Saljanin was the ringleader and insider in an inside job that resulted in the theft of over $1 million worth of computers meant for school kids,” Berman said. “Now, having admitted his role in this truck hijacking scheme, he has been sentenced to prison for his crimes.”

According to the complaint and indictment filed in White Plains federal court, on or about Jan. 15, 2014, Saljanin, a driver for a shipping company, drove a truck from Yorktown Heights to a technology company located in Massachusetts to pick up a shipment of about 1,200 computers that were bound for two public New Jersey high schools.

He brought his brother, Gjon Saljanin, with him.

The next morning, Anton Saljanin told the Yorktown Police Department that the truck had been stolen from a parking lot in Yorktown Heights.

Later that day, he told the police he had been driving around looking for the truck when he happened to see it from the highway in a Danbury, CT parking lot.

Authorities said the truck would not have been visible in the Danbury parking lot to someone passing by on the highway.

Also, cell site data for Saljanin’s phone contradicts his claims about the route he took looking for the truck.

Yorktown police detective examined the truck and found that a window had been broken. Broken glass was found on the scene of the Danbury parking lot, but not in the Yorktown Heights parking lot, suggesting the window had been broken in Danbury rather than Yorktown Heights.

During interviews with Yorktown police, the brothers Saljanin both falsely claimed that on the night of Jan. 15, 2014, they drove directly from a convenience store outside of Yorktown Heights to the Yorktown Heights parking lot.

Security camera footage from various locations shows that a truck matching the description of the truck the brothers drove departed from their claimed route.

Instead they traveled in the direction of the residence of Ujka Vulaj, a longtime friend of Anton Saljanin.

Authorities said the video footage also shows that the duration of the detour corresponds to the approximate length of time it would have taken to drive to Vulaj’s residence, unload the computers from the truck and return to the Yorktown Heights parking lot.

Vulaj sold the stolen computers from Jan. 2014 to April 2014, some with help of a co-worker, Carlos Caceres, at far below market price, according to police.

The computers were worth about $1,000 each and were sold for $500 to $800 in cash. The computers were handed over in plain brown cardboard packaging.

In addition to his prison sentence, Anton Saljanin was sentenced to three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $989,424.15 in ill-gotten gains and to pay $989,424.15 in restitution.

Anton Saljanin’s’ co-defendents have been convicted and sentenced.

Vulaj, 56, of Yorktown Heights, pleaded guilty June 17, 2016, to one count of conspiracy to commit theft from an interstate shipment, interstate transportation of stolen property, and receipt, possession and sale of stolen property, and was sentenced May 12, 2017, to 12 months and one day in prison and two years of supervised release, including six months of home confinement. He was also ordered to forfeit $989,424.15 in ill-gotten gains and to pay $989,424.15 in restitution.

Caceres, 40, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty July 21, 2016, to one count of conspiracy to commit receipt, possession and sale of stolen property, and was sentenced Jan. 6, 2017, to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $331,188 in ill-gotten gains and to pay $331,188 in restitution.

Gjon Saljanin, 43, of Yorktown Heights, pleaded guilty Oct. 16, 2017, to one count of conspiracy to commit theft from an interstate shipment, interstate transportation of stolen property, and receipt, possession and sale of stolen property, and was sentenced May 4, 2018, to 12 months and one day in prison and two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $989,424.15 in ill-gotten gains and to pay $989,424.15 in restitution.

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