Biloxi VA worker sold stolen PPE at ‘inflated’ prices, feds say. He’s going to prison
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the timeline during which Jacob is accused of stealing.
A Biloxi Veterans Affairs employee accused of stealing medical equipment, electronics and other government property — and reselling the goods — has been sentenced to prison, prosecutors said.
Chad Jacob worked as assistant chief of the supply chain management for the VA, and stole property from 2019 until December 2020, according to a Jan. 7 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi.
The 55-year-old Saucier, Mississippi resident was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison, the release said. He will also pay a $40,000 fine and $23,584 in restitution to Veterans Affairs.
He pleaded guilty to theft of government property in September, and faced up to 10 years in prison, McClatchy News previously reported.
Jacob’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Jacob made over $50,000 through selling stolen N-95 masks and over $9,000 on stolen Apple electronics at “grossly inflated prices,” prosecutors said in a September release.
The VA worker sold packs of masks on eBay for hundreds of dollars. Some packs of 20 N95 masks went for around $450 during the pandemic, according to court documents. That comes out to $22.50 per mask, while court documents note the “normal price” for an N95 mask is 52 cents.
According to letters from family and friends asking for leniency for Jacob’s sentencing, he experienced a “lapse in judgment” after taking care of his sick wife.
“These stressors and other life experiences would have certainly contributed to his own mental stability, and he suddenly found himself struggling with his own mental health concerns,” one friend wrote.
Jacob’s employer at the VA and said he’d always known Jacob to be of “highest-caliber character.”
“I firmly believe that his recent mistakes were an anomaly exacerbated by, if not caused by, recent marital issues in his private life,” his boss wrote in a letter.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Biloxi VA worker sold stolen PPE at ‘inflated’ prices, feds say. He’s going to prison."
