Pacoima : Computer Whiz Gets Calculated Sentence

The chips are falling into place for San Fernando High School.

The school will benefit from the technological know-how of a man sentenced to perform community service at the school for pilfering computer chips from a utility company.

Jason Caine Anderson, 21, of Encino, was sentenced to spend 300 hours setting up and programming a computer system for the high school after he pleaded no contest this week to stealing chips from Southern California Gas Co., said Deputy City Atty. Dan Lowenthal, who handled the case.

“This is the first time I’ve encountered a case of theft involving a person with such an amount of computer prowess and knowledge,” Lowenthal said. “His programming ability is significant.”

Anderson was offered a choice of serving a maximum of two years in prison and paying a hefty fine, working on a Caltrans road crew or providing computer-related services in a public school.

“The reason this was offered to him is because he was a first-time offender, the jails are already overcrowded and our school system lacks resources,” Lowenthal said. “It’s time to be creative.”

San Fernando High was chosen to receive Anderson’s services because the school owns a substantial amount of new computer equipment but does not have personnel to set the systems up, Lowenthal said.

That task now falls to Anderson.

“Hopefully, he won’t teach the students how to be hackers,” Lowenthal said. “But if he does screw up, there’s always jail.”

The value of the five chips Anderson stole: $2,400. Lowenthal’s estimate of the value of the labor he will log at San Fernando High, at $30 per hour: $9,000.