WHITE PLAINS – Two brothers
from Yorktown Heights pled guilty in federal court to charges associated
with participating in a scheme to steal, transport and sell a shipment
of 1,200 computers worth over $1 million that were bound for two public
high schools in New Jersey.
It was alleged that on January 15, 2014, Anton Saljanin, 45, a driver
for a shipping company, drove a truck from Yorktown Heights to a technology
company in Massachusetts to pick up a shipment of 1,200 computers. He
brought his brother, Gjon Saljanin, 42, with him.
The next morning, Anton Saljanin reported to Yorktown Police that the
truck had been stolen from a parking lot in Yorktown Heights. Later that
day, Anton Saljanin told police he had been driving around looking for
the truck and spotted it in a Danbury, Connecticut parking lot.
Yorktown Police found a window had been broken with glass in the Danbury
lot, not in the Yorktown Heights lot.
During interviews with Yorktown Police, the bothers falsely claimed that
on the night of January 15, 2014, they drove directly from a convenience
store outside Yorktown Heights to the parking lot, but security camera
video from various locations in Yorktown Heights showed they drove the
truck in the direction of a residents of Ujka Vulaj, a long-time friend
of Anton Saljanin where it was believed they unloaded the computers.
From January 2014 through April 2014, Vulaj sold the stolen computers,
some with the help of a co-worker, Carlos Caceres. They sold the computers,
which had a retail value of $1,000 for from $500 to $800 in cash each.
The Anton Saljanin pled guilty to conspiracy to commit theft from an interstate
shipment; interstate transportation of stolen property; receipt, possession
and sale of stolen property; and theft from an interstate shipment. He
could face 15 years in prison when sentenced.
Gjon Saljanin was charged with conspiracy to commit theft from an interstate
shipment, interstate transportation of stolen property and receipt, possession
and sale of stolen property, which carries a maximum sentence of five
years in prison.
Vuljaj, 56, of Yorktown Heights, pled guilty in June 2016 to conspiracy
to similar charges and was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison
and two years of post-release supervision.
Caceres, 39, of the Bronx, pled guilty in July 2016 to conspiracy to receive,
possess and sell stolen property.
