Former Marysville resident sentenced to 78 months for federal charges of money laundering, mail fraud

PORTLAND, Ore. — Former Marysville resident Steven Edward Miller has been sentenced to serve 78 months in prison and a three-year term of supervised release, as well as pay restitution of $3,713,107, for money laundering and mail fraud. Miller, a 38-year-old who also resided at various times in Everett and Portland, Ore., has been incarcerated since his arrest on federal charges in November of 2007, and pled guilty on Dec. 9, 2008.

According to court records, Miller created PDX USA with the intention of providing telecommunication and Internet services for area residents. Between approximately August of 2004 and November of 2006, Miller used the entity names PDX USA, The New CB Shop, and others to interact with Cisco Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer and seller of computer networking equipment and services based in San Jose, Calif. Miller rented office space for the two aforementioned entities in downtown Portland.

Miller devised a scheme to defraud Cisco Systems of more than $3.7 million in computer equipment and parts. He made false warranty claims to Cisco for replacement parts for computer equipment. Cisco shipped the parts to Miller at his Portland office space, and to his residences in Marysville and Everett, expecting that he would return the defective parts he allegedly had. In reality, Miller did not have any defective Cisco computer parts. Once he obtained the new parts from Cisco, he sold them via the Internet and kept the proceeds for himself.

Investigators from Cisco and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation jointly investigated this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire Fay prosecuted the case in U.S. District Court.

"Stealing millions of dollars worth of equipment from one of America's most well known companies did not go unnoticed, nor did it go unpunished," said Kenneth Hines, IRS special agent in charge of the Pacific Northwest. "A sentence of more than 2,300 days in a jail cell sends a powerful message to anyone who would consider doing the same thing."

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