Chinese
Citizen in Country on Work Visa Sentenced Federally for Unauthorized
Computer Access
Minneapolis
- A Chinese citizen working in the United States was sentenced today
in federal court for theft of a software program belonging to his
employer. Tim Hongguo Tian, age 40, who was living in Blaine, Minnesota,
was sentenced to eleven months in federal prison by United States
District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle. Tian had pled guilty in August
of 2006 to unauthorized access to a protected computer.
Court
documents state that between 2000 and 2006, Tian worked as a software
engineer for Parametric Technology Corporation ("PTC")
in Arden Hills, Minnesota. In September of 2005, Tian asked PTC
for a leave of absence to return to China because of a family emergency.
Tian, however, did not go to China. Instead, he began working for
Medtronic Corporation; and while at Medtronic, he repeatedly telephoned
and emailed PTC, continuing the charade that he was in China. After
a nearly three-month absence, Tian was given notice that he would
be fired if he failed to return to work at PTC by December 5, 2005.
He did not return and subsequently was removed from his position.
Because
his employment at PTC had been terminated, Tian was no longer authorized
to access the PTC computer network. However, on December 9, 2007,
at approximately 11:00 p.m.,
Tian used his security badge to gain entrance to the PTC premises.
Then he logged onto the PTC computer network and downloaded the
source code for a proprietary software product valued at approximately
$200,000.
Medtronic
was unaware that Tian was lying to PTC or getting paid by PTC during
a portion of the time he was employed by Medtronic. Indeed, the
sentencing court concluded that both PTC and Medtronic were defrauded
by Tian, and the court awarded restitution to each company for the
salary it paid to Tian after he commenced his criminal conduct.
This
case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Minnesota Cybercrime Task Force. Assistant
United States Attorney Timothy C. Rank prosecuted the case.
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