A Baltimore judge dealt harshly with the man who stole $113,500worth of computer equipment used in the Johns Hopkins Hospital tomonitor cancer patients, likening his crime to attempted murder andsentencing him to 12 years in prison.
Gregg Wakefield, a 37-year-old computer technician, and hisattorney sought leniency from Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge LynnK. Stewart, saying Wakefield was depressed and in dire financialstraits after a divorce and an order to pay child support for his 6-year-old daughter.
Stewart, who held her head in her hands before delivering thedisposition, was unmoved.
"The vulnerable, the weak, the sick, and the dying were put atrisk because of what he did," the judge told Wakefield's lawyer,Brian G. Thompson.
"This is life, sir, not child support or money...," she saiddirectly to Wakefield. "When you victimize the helpless, that isabout as low as you can go."
According to court papers, Wakefield, an employee of Hopkinssubcontractor PrimeNet Inc. in Glen Burnie, broke into the networkserver room of the East Baltimore hospital's Weinberg Buildingthrough an air vent.
He stole "several router computer cards and several g-bitecomputer cards" during two evening visits in May and December 2006,the charging document says.
He sold the items over the Internet for $18,000, the Office of theState's Attorney said.
A surveillance video showed Wakefield parking in the hospital lot,wheeling in a black bag and leaving minutes later with the same bag -- noticeably heavier on the second occasion, according to the courtdocuments.
PrimeNet President Craig Digregorio called hospital security afterseeing stills of Wakefield on Hopkins' security Web site, courtpapers said.
PrimeNet has paid Hopkins full restitution, Assistant State'sAttorney Jason Knight told Stewart.
Wakefield pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree burglaryin July. Knight asked for a 15-year term for each count.
Thompson called the recommendation "shocking" in light ofsentencing guidelines of three to eight years and his client'spreviously "honorable life," including a stint in the U.S. Navy inthe Middle East.
"How many people in this room have spent nine years of their livesdefending our country?" Thompson asked, turning to survey thegallery.
Wakefield, who appeared in a prison jumpsuit -- he is servingthree years for a separate identity-theft conviction -- said he'dbeen "selfish" but had not known the crucial function of thecomputers he disconnected.
"I was trying to find the easy way out for my problems," Wakefieldsaid. "Thank God no one was hurt."
Wakefield's sentence will start after he completes his term forthe 2003 identity theft, for which he had been on probation.
In addition, he is scheduled to appear Sept. 25 in BaltimoreCounty Circuit Court, where prosecutors will argue that he violatedprobation for an April 2007 burglary conviction.
Wakefield's mother, Paula Wakefield, flew in from Texas forThursday's sentencing and wept after her son was escorted from court.
"He didn't even know what he was taking," she said. "My son's nota loser to society."
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