A man has been sentenced to up to seven-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of stealing toner cartridges from his work. Marques Gumbs, from New York, stole millions of dollars’ worth of toner from Manhattan Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center over a three-year period.

Mr Gumbs, whose haul had an estimated value in the region of $1.5 million, used his illegal profits to bankroll his increasingly lavish lifestyle. Having acquired an apartment in the sought after Trump Towers, Mr. Gumbs also took holidays to Las Vegas and the Caribbean, as well as purchasing a new BMW and jew-encrusted watches. He agreed to forfeit much of his extensive itinerary as part of his sentence.

The case provides another example of the potentially large profits to be gained from the illegal trading of printing consumables.

Back in June, a man from Brooklyn was charged with stealing up to a million dollars’ worth of stock at the branch of Office Depot where he worked as a manager. It is suggested that toner cartridges relatively inconspicuous nature, particularly in comparison to laptops and other electrical goods, is what makes them a key target for criminals.