Martin Austermuhle
Pro-tip: if you’ve stolen audio equipment used by the U.S. president and bearing the presidential seal, don’t try pawning it. You’ll get caught.
And so happened to Eric Brown, the Virginia man who was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison for the late-2011 theft of $200,000 worth of audio equipment that was meant to be used by President Obama during an event at a Virginia fire station. The equipment, stored in a van that Brown made off with, included Obama’s teleprompter, his lectern (with presidential seal), flags, lapel pins, a laptop, amplifiers, and microphones.
Brown’s SUV and his cellphone records placed him at the scene, but he maybe could have gotten away with it had he not tried to pawn off the goods in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.
