A former UCLA student was sentenced to a year in jail Monday after accepting a plea bargain for stealing more than 50 laptops from the Charles E. Young Research Library and Ackerman Union this year.
At a preliminary hearing Monday, Seyed Ali Pakizehkar Hesari, 29, pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft and one count of second-degree burglary related to the September theft of two laptops from the UCLA Store in Ackerman Union.
Hesari is not currently enrolled at UCLA, but was attending on and off as a history student for years, including as recently as March.
Though Hesari pleaded no contest to the two charges relating to the store theft, prosecutors said he has stolen dozens of other laptops from UCLA.
In early November, university police released photos of a man dressed in UCLA sweatpants and blue running shoes using a hammer to break into an equipment loan room in the Young Research Library, where he used three roller suitcases and a shoulder bag to remove 55 laptops worth about $33,000.
UCPD officers detained Hesari Nov. 11 after a student working out at the John Wooden Center said he recognized his clothing from the surveillance images, which the student had seen on the Daily Bruin’s website.
Police arrested Hesari soon after, and later searched his mother’s home in Hollywood, where they found 53 of the stolen MacBooks.
Two days later, Hesari pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of grand theft and two of second-degree commercial burglary, one felony vandalism count and one misdemeanor count of lying to a police officer. If he had been convicted of all charges, Hesari could have faced up to four years and eight months in state prison.
On Monday, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office dismissed four of the charges, including those related to the YRL laptop theft, as part of a plea deal.
A judge sentenced Hesari Monday to a year in jail and almost three years of probation after the jail sentence ends.
Compiled by Sam Hoff, Bruin senior staff.