A 42-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison for participating in a complex theft scheme of computer hard drives, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.

Peter Cuong Chi Nhan, 42, of El Monte, pleaded guilty to 12 felony counts of organized retail theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. In addition to the eight year prison sentence, Nhan will have to pay restitution to stores he victimized as well as forfeit all profits made from the scheme, authorities said.

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In June 2019, detectives with the Simi Valley Police Department learned from a fraud investigator at Target that Nhan was purchasing new computer hard drives and then returning the computers after removing the hard drives and replacing them with older worthless drives, according to authorities. The system is known as "hard drive shucking" in the retail electronics industry, investigators said.

Through further investigation, Simi Valley authorities tracked Nhan as he continued to shuck hard drives throughout California at various retailers, including Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Fry's Electronics. Records obtained during the investigation showed Nhan earned over $580,000 selling hard drives through his shucking scheme.

Jeremy Childs is a breaking news and public safety reporter covering the night shift for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached by calling 805-437-0208 or emailing jeremy.childs@vcstar.com.

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