Ex-Home Depot exec pleads guilty in Georgia court to stealing former employer’s trade secrets

Ex-Home Depot manager pleads guilty in Georgia

ATLANTA — A Georgia man who was a manager at The Home Depot has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from the Atlanta-based home improvement giant.

Officials say 47-year-old Guillermo Martinez of Cumming entered the plea in federal district court Wednesday.

Martinez was senior manager of product engineering for Home Depot and was responsible for assisting the company’s vendors in preparing to sell products to the company.

He had access to Home Depot’s confidential information and other trade secrets, including pricing and profitability spread sheets and documents relating to product line reviews.

Prosecutors say he gave a vendor confidential pricing information during a product review in May 2008 and was also negotiating an employment agreement with the vendor at the time.

Sentencing is set for February 3.