Brooklyn Magistrate Viktor Pohorelsky heard a piece of testimony yesterday that isn’t exactly common in federal court: he heard details of a man who swallowed a USB Flash drive in order to try to destroy criminal evidence contained therein.
The New York Daily News reports that Florin Necula admitted in court that he swallowed a Kingston Flash drive when federal agents broke into his Queens apartment last January.
“I swallowed a computer thumb drive,” Necula was quoted as saying during the proceedings. Pohorelsky reportedly has a look of total bewilderment on his face and asked, “I’m sorry, what did you do with the drive?”
Necula nonchalantly said again, “I swallowed it.”
Necula is accused of skimming ATM machines in a fraud operation that netted millions of dollars among a handful of suspects. The Flash drive was just one piece of evidence, though. Agents were able to secure a mountain of evidence through Necula’s laptops, cameras, a cell phone, and other USB drives.
To add insult to injury, the drive got stuck in Necula’s intestinal tract and had to have it surgically removed, and per a search warrant it had to be turned over to officials once it was extracted.
The courageous man’s lawyer, Sanford Talkin, said that Necula has completely recovered from the ordeal.
