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Man Accused of Stealing from A-B |
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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
ST. LOUIS: A St. Louis man was indicted Thursday for allegedly stealing more than $400,000 in computer gear from Anheuser-Busch, selling it on eBay and using thousands of dollars of the money in a Washington Park strip club.
Jack Walter Barrett Jr., 35, was an information technology consultant who was working at the beer giant's headquarters in St. Louis from July 2006 through January of this year, his indictment says.
The indictment accuses Barrett of stealing Cisco computer equipment and selling on it eBay for more than $100,000 that then went into a PayPal account that he could access with an ATM card.
Barrett used that money for pricey computer gear, audio and video equipment and vehicle accessories and spent thousands of dollars a week in a Washington Park "gentlemen's club," the indictment says.
But Barrett's lawyer, Patrick Kiernan, said that the brewery allowed several employees, including Barrett, to take outdated equipment home and sell it.
"My client didn't do anything wrong. He's innocent and we intend to show that at trial," Kiernan said.
Kiernan said that the brewery was going after Barrett because he declined to work on a project, and said federal prosecutors were trying to pressure Barrett into pleading guilty.
A grand jury handed down a 25-count superseding indictment Wednesday in federal court in St. Louis charging Barrett with one count of wire fraud and 24 counts of interstate transportation of stolen property. Barrett was originally indicted in May on lesser charges.
Kiernan said that Barrett did not lead an extravagant lifestyle. He said that Barrett was going through a divorce and was dating someone who worked at the strip club.
A brewery executive said in a statement that the company had cooperated with investigators.
Copyright (c) 2008, St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
