A Devonshire man was fined for stealing computer resources from Internet provider North Rock in Magistrates? Court yesterday.

Noel Stafford Brown, 25, of Cedar Park, pleaded guilty to performing functions which gave him unlawful access to North Rock Communications and guilty to unlawfully receiving a XL wireless subscriber unit in March this year.

Brown, who was employed with the company but has since been terminated, was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine ? $500 on each count ? by November 15.

Crown counsel Wayne Caines told the court that Brown was using the Internet and had used his position of trust to drain the company of resources.

?If this was quantified, it would come to thousands of dollars of time for a paying customer,? said Mr. Caines. Brown?s lawyer Darrell Clarke told the court that incarceration was not appropriate in this circumstance as his client had hoped to go back to go overseas to pursue an education.

The court also heard that in 2002, Brown was charged with stealing a laptop valued at $2,000.

Brown was fined $500 for that offence at the time.