The former computer systems administrator who stole more than 19,000 pieces of equipment from the Naval Research Laboratory said he wanted to create the “Noah’s Ark of Computer Land,” a two-by-two of every piece of computer technology available, according to documents filed Tuesday in federal court.
Victor Papagno Jr., 40, has admitted in federal court to stealing hardware from the research lab on Overlook Avenue in Southwest Washington. Court documents and Navy officials valued his haul at up to $1.6 million.
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But the extent to which Papagno would go to feed his habit is revealed in sentencing documents filed in U.S. District Court of Washington.
“I guess I love to steal,” said Papagno, who had worked at the research institution for 18 years.
Papagno’s passion to pilfer ran so deep that he spent $50,000 to build a two-story, four-car, 2,775-square foot garage at his Calvert County home to store the stolen booty, authorities said. Papagno stole more than 100 computers, 167 keyboards, 275 computer mice, 80 monitors, 187 toner cartridges and 5,000 pieces of computer software, documents said.
During the last three years of his scam, Papagno estimated he stole at least one item every day.
His actions posed a “significant security threat,” investigators said. The research institution is best known for developing radar, the nation’s first intelligence satellite and the basis for the Global Positioning System.
“As a cutting edge research facility, it stored within its computers and its physical space a number of highly classified documents that if put in the wrong hands, could harm the nation,” wrote Special Agent Timothy Hall, of U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Services.
Investigators said they found an electronic badge-making device at Papagno’s house and the personal security badges for about 10 employees that would allow an impostor to pose as a NRL employee and enter the facility.
Papagno made a game of going to trade shows and seeing much equipment he could slip into his “freebie” bag, police said. After each event, he and his friend would meet back to the car and compare their loot. D.C. police caught him at one convention in 2001, arresting him for trying steal a computer from a vendor, but the charges were later dropped.
