Crystal Lake man sentenced to 5 years in prison for theft as part of $1 million Apple iPhone scheme

A 30-year-old Crystal Lake man was taken to the Illinois River Correctional Center after being sentenced last month to five years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing between $500,000 and $1 million through a scheme selling Apple iPhones bought fraudulently with his employer’s funds.

Kyle Marnell, who worked for LaCosta Facility Support Services Inc. in Wauconda for about three years, entered into a negotiated guilty plea to theft, a Class 1 felony, last month in the Lake County courthouse.

He is required to serve half of the prison term, and when out of prison, he will be on mandatory supervised release for one year, according to a sentencing order filed in Lake County.

Marnell, who worked in information technology for the company, pleaded guilty to committing theft “in a series of acts” between Nov. 2, 2019, and July 22, 2021, “exerting control over property being Apple iPhones owned by LaCosta Facility Support Services Inc.”

The value of the iPhones was between $500,000 and $1 million, according to the indictment.

In exchange for entering the guilty plea, additional charges were dismissed, including an additional count of theft, money laundering, online sale of stolen property, online theft by deception and electronic fencing, according to court documents.

He was accused of using email and other internet services to order Apple iPhones from Verizon, charging them to his employer’s account and then selling them on the internet using Facebook, according to the indictment.

LaCosta, in business since 1988, provides janitorial, production labor and other facility support services to large manufacturing and industrial companies.

When reached by phone Wednesday, a member of the company declined to comment.

An attempt to reach Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Berrill, who prosecuted the case, was not immediately successful. An attempt to reach Marnell’s attorney also was unsuccessful.