Employee accused of stealing $10,000 worth of technology from Macon employer
A Crawford County man is accused of stealing laptops, iPhones and monitors from his former employer and selling them online.
MACON, Ga. — An IT specialist was arrested for allegedly stealing more than $10,000 worth of technology from the Macon company he worked for, according to an incident report from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.
“As an IT Help Desk employee, he had access to these technology assets and was required to issue and maintain them when not in use,” the incident report says. “Instead, he abused his position of trust.”
Crawford County man Chance Hodge was arrested Monday on 26 counts of robbery.
The incident report accuses Hodge of stealing 11 iPhones, an iPad and five computers. The incident report says he sold the technology to two companies that sell used technology.
Hodge worked at B&D Industrial, a Macon-based company that provides services to manufacturing and sawmills. According to Hodge’s manager, Jarrett Warner, he was fired from the company in October.
Hodge worked for Warner for two years. Even though the technology wasn’t his, he said it felt “personal” for his employee to do something like this.
“It was a huge disappointment for us to find out,” Warner said. “This is a family business. They go out of their way to help each other – they really do… and I know he was taken care of well.”
Warner says Hodge was fired because of his job performance and not for theft.
In fact, as the company was reviewing Hodge’s emails after his firing, they noticed he was selling company equipment to websites that specialize in selling used technology, the incident report says.
“He had a high-paying job and lost his job because of his performance,” Warner said. “The trust issue was a big issue. He was entrusted with a lot of things… and it was a big surprise that he did that.”
The company says it has video of Hodge taking a new monitor — worth about $225 — and a laptop and placing them in his car just hours before he was fired.
B&D Industrial says it stole 11 iPhones worth more than $5,000 and five computers worth almost $5,000. In total, the technology was worth just over $10,000.
In the following months, Warner says it was still unable to recover any technology.
“It’s in the rearview mirror now,” Warner said.
Although sheriff’s office deputies were able to contact one of the companies Hodge sold the equipment to, by that time it was too late.
According to jail records, Hodge turned himself in on Monday. The prison website shows that he does not have bail at this time.
