In recent years a variety of people have used printer ink as the basis for their criminal schemes. Whether using the toner cartridge slot of their printer to squirrel money from drug deals, or bullying government departments into buying thousands of dollars of surplus toner, the criminal mind has used the potential of printer ink for breaking the law to the utmost.
Below we’ve got some of the more audacious crimes against printer ink to hit the newspapers. In each of these stories not only is a victim hurt or an offence committed: ink toner is subjected to an end other than helping to print quality images. So when you read, think not only of the folly of the rugby star found guilty of an ink cartridge scam. Think of the printer ink, forced to an end other than the manufacturer intended.
April 2002: Grand Theft Printer Ink
In April 2002, two men were convicted of stealing $2,500 worth of printer ink by hiding the cartridges in a toy oven’s box. Edwin Velez and Natchaz Chillmel, both 23 at the time, entered a Meijer retail store in Middleton, Ohio and stuffed the empty box with cartridges. They then took the box to the store checkout, paying only for the toy oven.
They were caught only when they tried the same trick at a Meijer store in West Chester.
Reported by David Eck on 2 April 2002 at Enquirer.com.
May 2003: Spot The Difference Hits Printer Ink
By May 2003, the Imaging Supplies Coalition believed that 1 in 20 ink cartridges sold in the United States was counterfeit. Often indistinguishable from the real thing, the cartridges were (and are) unknowingly sold by retailers and online businesses. The total revenue lost to ink toner brands like Canon and Xerox was thought to top $2 billion and, as of November 2009, this figure had risen to $3 billion.
Reported by Tom Spring on 22 May 2003 at PCWorld.com
September 2005: Resell Printer Ink At Your Peril
A court ruling by the Ninth Circuit in September 2005 found that consumers of Lexmark ink toner who resold their empty cartridges to retailers besides Lexmark were guilty of patent infringement. Lexmark’s consumer agreement made its printer ink ‘single use only’ in an attempt to strangle the remanufacturing market. Yet the ruling made consumers of Lexmark printer ink vulnerable to legal action, should they violate the agreement.
Reported on 2 September 2005 at Corante.com.
April 2007: Thieves Filmed Stealing 60,000 Printer Ink Cartridges
In April 2007, several thieves were caught on camera making off with 60,000 ink cartridges from the UK premises of Blink Inkjet. Though the offices housed laptops and computers, the thieves limited their pilfering to the printer ink. Under less than half of the cartridges contained any ink but this did not discourage the culprits, who bundled the spoils into white vans. The whole proceedings were caught on CCTV.
Reported on 24 April 2007 at TheRecycler.com.
February 2008: Dead Official Secures Printer Ink Financing
A letter from dead Memphis school board attorney Percy Harvey was used to secure funding for the district’s schools in February 2008. Unable to secure the $207,000 for the 3 copiers, official Al Flowers enlisted the help of his colleague, who had passed on 7 months earlier. The anomaly was soon discovered, as was the fact that the copiers acquired through the duplicity were not compatible with the schools’ electric grid.
Reported on 3 February 2008 by Kristina Geotz at Typepad.com.
August 2008: Rugby Star In Ink Cartridge Scam
A 30 year old winger of Hull Rugby Club was arrested in connection with an Ebay printer ink scam in August 2008. Gareth Raynor was questioned by police regarding his involvement in the sale of counterfeit ink cartridges on the internet action site. The sportsman, a member of the Great Britain rugby league team, was released on police bail at the time.
Reported on 14 August 2008 at ThisIsHullAndEastRiding.co.uk.
October 2008: Official In $1 Million Printer Ink Scandal
In October 2008, school official Arthur Rose was found guilty of accepting a $3,500 dollar bribe from a Ricoh America sales representative to secure a $1 million contract for the corporation. The contract meant Ricoh would have supplied the school district with 73 digital copiers and related products over 5 years. Rose faced up 7 years in state prison for his crimes, which included bribe receiving, official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities.
Reported on 18 October 2008 at MidHudsonnews.com.
October 2009: Western Australia Bullied Into Buying Printer Ink
In October 2009, the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia investigated claims that the State Government purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars more on printer ink than needed because of a bullying salesman. Trever Gould of the Department of Agriculture was pestered and bribed by Consumables Management Group salesman Kevin Taverner to buy unneeded toner in excess of $310,000. The investigation into how this happened is ongoing.
Reported on 2 October 2009 at Abc.Net.au.
December 2009: Bomb Squad Explodes Printer Ink Cartridges
The bomb squad of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania exploded a package of printer ink earlier this month, after officials were unable to identify what the package contained. The Plaza at PPL was evacuated after police stumbled on the small white box housing the toner ink, and found it suspicious. It was only after explosives experts blew the package to pieces that it was found to contain toner, after reassembly.
Reported on 3 December 2009 by Frank Warner at Mcall.com.
December 2009: Drug Dealer Squirrels Earnings In Printer
A 20 year old drug dealer in Liverpool, England was found by police to house his earnings in the toner cartridge slot of his printer, earlier this month. Ashley Moorcroft kept £1,700 in his home, which was searched by inspectors after they scented cannabis in his car. Moorcroft admitted he received the money as payment for storing the cannabis for a drug dealer, and was sentenced to 6 months in prison.
Reported on 18 December by Linda Roughley at CrosbyHerald.com.
Below we’ve got some of the more audacious crimes against printer ink to hit the newspapers. In each of these stories not only is a victim hurt or an offence committed: ink toner is subjected to an end other than helping to print quality images. So when you read, think not only of the folly of the rugby star found guilty of an ink cartridge scam. Think of the printer ink, forced to an end other than the manufacturer intended.
April 2002: Grand Theft Printer Ink
In April 2002, two men were convicted of stealing $2,500 worth of printer ink by hiding the cartridges in a toy oven’s box. Edwin Velez and Natchaz Chillmel, both 23 at the time, entered a Meijer retail store in Middleton, Ohio and stuffed the empty box with cartridges. They then took the box to the store checkout, paying only for the toy oven.
They were caught only when they tried the same trick at a Meijer store in West Chester.
Reported by David Eck on 2 April 2002 at Enquirer.com.
May 2003: Spot The Difference Hits Printer Ink
By May 2003, the Imaging Supplies Coalition believed that 1 in 20 ink cartridges sold in the United States was counterfeit. Often indistinguishable from the real thing, the cartridges were (and are) unknowingly sold by retailers and online businesses. The total revenue lost to ink toner brands like Canon and Xerox was thought to top $2 billion and, as of November 2009, this figure had risen to $3 billion.
Reported by Tom Spring on 22 May 2003 at PCWorld.com
September 2005: Resell Printer Ink At Your Peril
A court ruling by the Ninth Circuit in September 2005 found that consumers of Lexmark ink toner who resold their empty cartridges to retailers besides Lexmark were guilty of patent infringement. Lexmark’s consumer agreement made its printer ink ‘single use only’ in an attempt to strangle the remanufacturing market. Yet the ruling made consumers of Lexmark printer ink vulnerable to legal action, should they violate the agreement.
Reported on 2 September 2005 at Corante.com.
April 2007: Thieves Filmed Stealing 60,000 Printer Ink Cartridges
In April 2007, several thieves were caught on camera making off with 60,000 ink cartridges from the UK premises of Blink Inkjet. Though the offices housed laptops and computers, the thieves limited their pilfering to the printer ink. Under less than half of the cartridges contained any ink but this did not discourage the culprits, who bundled the spoils into white vans. The whole proceedings were caught on CCTV.
Reported on 24 April 2007 at TheRecycler.com.
February 2008: Dead Official Secures Printer Ink Financing
A letter from dead Memphis school board attorney Percy Harvey was used to secure funding for the district’s schools in February 2008. Unable to secure the $207,000 for the 3 copiers, official Al Flowers enlisted the help of his colleague, who had passed on 7 months earlier. The anomaly was soon discovered, as was the fact that the copiers acquired through the duplicity were not compatible with the schools’ electric grid.
Reported on 3 February 2008 by Kristina Geotz at Typepad.com.
August 2008: Rugby Star In Ink Cartridge Scam
A 30 year old winger of Hull Rugby Club was arrested in connection with an Ebay printer ink scam in August 2008. Gareth Raynor was questioned by police regarding his involvement in the sale of counterfeit ink cartridges on the internet action site. The sportsman, a member of the Great Britain rugby league team, was released on police bail at the time.
Reported on 14 August 2008 at ThisIsHullAndEastRiding.co.uk.
October 2008: Official In $1 Million Printer Ink Scandal
In October 2008, school official Arthur Rose was found guilty of accepting a $3,500 dollar bribe from a Ricoh America sales representative to secure a $1 million contract for the corporation. The contract meant Ricoh would have supplied the school district with 73 digital copiers and related products over 5 years. Rose faced up 7 years in state prison for his crimes, which included bribe receiving, official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities.
Reported on 18 October 2008 at MidHudsonnews.com.
October 2009: Western Australia Bullied Into Buying Printer Ink
In October 2009, the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia investigated claims that the State Government purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars more on printer ink than needed because of a bullying salesman. Trever Gould of the Department of Agriculture was pestered and bribed by Consumables Management Group salesman Kevin Taverner to buy unneeded toner in excess of $310,000. The investigation into how this happened is ongoing.
Reported on 2 October 2009 at Abc.Net.au.
December 2009: Bomb Squad Explodes Printer Ink Cartridges
The bomb squad of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania exploded a package of printer ink earlier this month, after officials were unable to identify what the package contained. The Plaza at PPL was evacuated after police stumbled on the small white box housing the toner ink, and found it suspicious. It was only after explosives experts blew the package to pieces that it was found to contain toner, after reassembly.
Reported on 3 December 2009 by Frank Warner at Mcall.com.
December 2009: Drug Dealer Squirrels Earnings In Printer
A 20 year old drug dealer in Liverpool, England was found by police to house his earnings in the toner cartridge slot of his printer, earlier this month. Ashley Moorcroft kept £1,700 in his home, which was searched by inspectors after they scented cannabis in his car. Moorcroft admitted he received the money as payment for storing the cannabis for a drug dealer, and was sentenced to 6 months in prison.
Reported on 18 December by Linda Roughley at CrosbyHerald.com.
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