U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Organizing for Action dinner in Washington, March 13, 2013. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR3EYBO
A man charged with stealing a truck that contained President Obama’s teleprompter was sentenced to seven years in prison last Thursday.
According to court records, a truck belonging to the Defense Information Systems Agency and the White House was stolen by Eric Brown on October 16, 2011 as the President’s staff was preparing for his upcoming trip to Richmond, Va. As NBC Chicago reports:
The [2005 Ford] truck had no White House markings on the exterior, but inside it was loaded with speakers, microphones, a teleprompter, a laptop computer, podiums and other items used in presidential appearances. The van was empty when it was recovered on the other side of town the next day, and some of the items were later recovered at Maryland pawn shops.
(MORE: Truck Containing Obama’s Teleprompter, Audio Equipment Stolen in Virginia)
The stolen equipment was valued collectively at about $200,000.
Brown, who is from Richmond, was given a longer sentence than the normal three years because of other outstanding charges against him. He is also wanted in connection to more than a dozen other incidents involving similar truck thefts. According to the report, Brown has a criminal record including charges of burglary, drug possession, fraud and more that goes back more than three decades.
Brown pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this January.
“The theft of government property is a serious offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roderick Young told the court, according to NBC Chicago. “It’s all the more serious when the property belongs to the White House Communications Agency.”