Nortel Equipment Thief Gets Prison Time

Struggling Nortel Networks is getting some justice.

In what’s been a tough year for the Canadian communications giant, a man has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing almost $300,000 in telephone and computer equipment from a Nortel office near Boston.

34-year-old Rimba B. Handojo must pay back $288,000 in restitution and cough up $125,000 in unpaid taxes to the IRS. After he gets out of the pokey, he’ll be on probation for another three years. Handojo this week pleaded guilty to mail fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy.

Handojo is a former Nortel employee accused of stealing the equipment between 1999 and 2004. Police found some of the equipment in Handojo’s home and in his car.