Ex-Verizon engineer charged in $4.5 million equipment scam

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A 62-year-old Ball Ground man used his employment at Verizon Wireless to steal and sell more than $4.5 million in equipment and spent the proceeds on jewelry, cars, international travel and multiple cosmetic surgeries for his girlfriend, prosecutors said.

Michael Baxter, arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud, was arraigned Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III and was released on a $50,000 unsecured bond.

“This defendant allegedly found to a way to rip off a company that provided high-dollar network communications equipment to Verizon. His scheme, like so many others before it, ultimately was uncovered,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a news release.

Baxter had been employed from 1994 to 2010 as a network engineer in Verizon’s Alpharetta southeastern regional headquarters, prosecutors said. During that time, Verizon had purchased extended warranty contracts from Cisco Systems Inc.

The warranties required Cisco to service or replace a malfunctioning item, some of which were valued at as much as $40,000 apiece. Authorized Verizon employees could make service requests and order replacement parts from Cisco.

Beginning at least as early as December 2006 and continuing until he was terminated by Verizon in May 2010, Baxter submitted hundreds of fraudulent service requests, prosecutors said.

“The service requests were fraudulent in that no parts needed to be replaced, and instead of placing the replacement parts into service in Verizon Wireless’ network, Baxter simply took them home and sold them to third-party re-sellers for his own profit,” prosecutors said in the news release.

A federal grand jury indicted Baxter on Dec. 6 on 15 counts of mail fraud and 15 counts of wire fraud, prosecutors said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.

Verizon and Cisco are cooperating in the investigation.