Former MBTA cleaner charged in theft of more than $120,000 in equipment

A former MBTA employee is due back in court next month after being charged in connection with the theft and resale of more than $120,000 worth of network equipment from the agency’s IT department, the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office announced.

Marcelo Batista-Sales, 39, of Lynn, was arraigned Nov. 24 in Boston Municipal Court on a charge of larceny over $1,200, according to Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden. A judge set bail at $2,000 and ordered Batista-Sales to stay away from MBTA headquarters. He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 22 for a pretrial hearing.

Investigators say that on Sept. 18, transit police responded to the agency’s IT department at Park Plaza after 40 Cisco network modules — which help carry data and are valued at approximately $3,069 each — were reported missing.

According to Hayden, an investigator traced the stolen equipment to Batista-Sales after searching eBay listings for the missing modules. That search led to an account under the username “marcbatist27,” which investigators say sold 51 Cisco network modules.

Transit police subsequently arrested Batista-Sales, who had been employed as a cleaner and had access to secure areas inside MBTA headquarters, Hayden said.

“This is a major theft from a public agency dedicated to moving nearly one million people each day around the metro Boston area, so it’s really a theft from all of us,” Hayden said in a statement. “I thank the MBTA investigators for their work in identifying a person to answer for this offense.” 

Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.