Ball Ground Man Charged in High-Tech Scam

Ball Ground resident Michael Baxter has been charged with 30 federal counts of fraud in a scheme to swipe network communications equipment worth millions of dollars.

Baxter, 62, was arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III in Atlanta and released on $50,000 unsecured bond.

A federal grand jury indicted him Tuesday on 15 counts of mail fraud and 15 counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Fraudulent schemes are only limited by the imagination of those who engage in the fraudulent conduct and are motivated by the desire to make money at the expense of an unwitting victim,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a news release. Baxter’s scheme, “like so many others before it, ultimately was uncovered.”

According to Yates and information presented in court, Baxter took advantage of extended warranties his employer, Verizon Wireless, purchased from Cisco Systems for equipment such as processors valued at up to $40,000 each. Cisco was required to replace broken parts before receiving them so that Verizon wouldn’t suffer any service interruptions.

Baxter, who worked in Verizon’s Alpharetta office as a network engineer from 1994 to 2010, submitted false service requests that resulted in Cisco’s shipping him millions of dollars’ worth of replacement parts starting at least as early as December 2006, according to the indictment. He then took the parts home and sold them.

Baxter is accused of using the money to buy jewelry, cars, international travel, cosmetic surgery for his girlfriend, and other luxury goods and services.

“Large companies such as Cisco Systems interact and engage in commerce with other companies with a mutual trust,” said the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, Brian Lamkin. “When an employee of one of those companies chooses to breach that trust by engaging in a high-dollar scheme to defraud, it can have immense adverse consequences for not only the victim company, but also its partner companies.”

Cisco and Verizon are cooperating in the investigation.