Apple's head of global security has been charged with bribery after allegedly promising 200 iPads worth $70,000 to police in exchange ...
Apple's head of global security has been charged with bribery after allegedly promising 200 iPads worth $70,000 to police in exchange for four concealed-weapon permits for the company's security officers.
Thomas Moyer, 50, has been indicted along with two officers from the Santa Clara Sheriff's Office by a grand jury, the District Attorney's Office in California said.
County undersheriff Rick Sung and sheriff's captain James Jenson are accused of requesting bribes for the permits.
Apple's security chief Thomas Moyer (pictured) has been charged with bribery after allegedly promising 200 iPads worth $70,000 to police
County undersheriff Rick Sung (pictured) is the highest ranking official ever prosecuted in Santa Clara County
Moyer has been working at Apple for nearly 15 years, an currently serves as head of global security.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Sung, 48, is the highest ranking law enforcement official in the county that his office has ever prosecuted.
Carrying concealed firearms in California is illegal without a permit, and county sheriffs have broad discretion over their issuance, which can cost between $200 and $400.
Santa Clara County have alleged that Sung did not issue the permits until Moyer agreed to donate the iPads.
But the donation was stopped at the last minute once Sung and Moyer learned that the DA's office had issued a search warrant to seize permit records.
Rosen said: 'Call this quid pro quo. Call it pay-to-play. Call it give to get. It is illegal and deeply erodes public confidence in the criminal justice system.'
Moyer sought the permits to arm his security officers at the headquarters of Apple amid fears of an attack, his attorney said
Moyer's attorney Ed Swanson said his client was innocent of the charges.
Apple said it had conducted its own investigation and found no wrongdoing on the part of their chief security officer.
Swanson said Moyer had applied for weapons permits for some Apple security personnel to protect executives and employees after shootings at other Silicon Valley tech firms.
In 2018, a women entered the headquarters of YouTube and shot three people before killing herself.
Nasim Aghdam stormed into YouTube's campus south of San Francisco and shot into a crowd of employees eating lunch.
Swanson said Moyer had applied for weapons permits for some Apple security personnel after the 2018 YouTube attack (pictured)
Swanson said of the new permit applications: 'They went through the process the way you're supposed to do it.'
He added that the donation of the iPads was not connected to the permits.
He said: 'There was no bribe, no quid pro quo.'
If found guilty, Moyer could serve prison time.
The scandal is the latest in an ongoing corruption probe by the DA into the Sheriff's Office over Sheriff Laurie Smith's 2018 re-election campaign.
So far six people have been indicted in the investigation involving deals involving gun permits for political favors.
Insurance broker Harpreet Chadha, 49, allegedly offered $6,000 worth of luxury box seat tickets to a San Jose Sharks hockey game in exchange for gun permits.
Sheriff Smith then used the luxury box to celebrate her reelection with family members and some of her biggest political supporters.
That case did not involve Apple, although campaign finance records show Moyer donated $1,000 to Smith's 2018 campaign shortly before receiving the permits.
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