Cal State worker in Bay Area accused of using school credit card to buy laptops he sold for cash
A former purchasing manager for a school in the California State University system with access to a credit card has been indicted for using it to buy laptops, tablets and other electronic devices and illegally reselling them, an indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court in Sacramento.
Tung Pham, 59, was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, alleging that he used the card to buy Apple products, which he resold on Craigslist and sometimes to a co-conspirator based in Folsom, the indictment shows.
The indictment did not name the public university where Pham worked, but San Jose State University spokesperson Michelle Smith McDonald confirmed that he was employed at the South Bay campus and had been let go in October 2020, a few months after the fraud alleged in the federal indictment.
The indictment alleges that Pham used text messages to negotiate the prices of some of the items with the Folsom co-conspirator, who was not named. The activity for which Pham was charged took place between April 2019 and March 2020, the indictment alleged.
Court documents said he worked as a facilities and purchasing coordinator for the library, and that he also lived in San Jose.
He used the university’s credit card to purchase Apple MacBooks from Best Buy, Staples and the university’s own bookstore, prosecutors alleged. Text messages intercepted by investigators showed discussions about a price for at least one iPad, according to the indictment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento alleges that Pham falsified documents submitted to the CSU school about the purchases, saying for example that he had bought numerous packages of disinfectant wipes, business card holders and other supplies, rather than laptops and tablets. In one case, he represented the purchase of a MacBook as a rental and other fees associated with a water cooler, prosecutors alleged.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said in a news release that Pham faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
