An ethnic Chinese supervisor at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Maine has been indicted by federal prosecutors and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly profiting from dismantling 46 government computers at three border facilities in Maine.
39-year-old Terry “Jiajia” Liu was the CBP supervisor at the Calais port of entry in Maine, with responsibilities also covering the Ferry Point and Milltown border facilities. He has been charged with one count of theft of government property and one count of destruction of government property, which could carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to Liu’s Facebook page, he claims to have been born in Guangzhou, China. His immigration status is unclear, and he has posted photos on Facebook hinting at his participation in the 2020 elections.
He previously resided in Oklahoma, where he attended a local university and briefly held a marijuana business operating license under the name Jliu Farm LLC, registered in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma.
Public records show that Liu purchased a residence in Calais in 2018. Sources said that on the day of his arrest, the FBI searched the residence, but this detail is not in publicly available court documents.
Another source said that Liu was arrested at the Bangor International Airport while preparing to board a flight to China, but court documents have not confirmed the specific circumstances or location of his arrest.
An affidavit by FBI Special Agent Christopher J. White stated that while Liu’s duties included limited information technology responsibilities, he did not have the authority to modify computer equipment. Port Director Theodore Cummings had explicitly requested in an email on March 18, 2025, after speaking with Liu, “Do not move any computers or computer components.”
CBP IT personnel discovered on December 19, 2025, that multiple computers had been modified without authorization from agency management or IT staff, leading to an investigation. Computers originally equipped with 14th generation Intel Core i7 processors were found to have been replaced with older or even Pentium series processors, with some computers having lower memory or storage capacity than the original configuration.
The affidavit did not indicate or suggest that the alternative hardware installed by Liu in Department of Homeland Security computers was for espionage purposes.
The affidavit was submitted to the Bangor Federal Court in Maine on the 9th and was first reported by the Portland Press Herald. According to the document, Liu faces charges for unauthorized alterations of 46 CBP computers at the Calais border facilities, with most computers having their hard drives and memory devices replaced.
Court records show that earlier this month during an interview, Liu admitted to replacing computer parts with older model parts not in compliance with agency specifications and exchanging the removed parts for shopping points through an online retailer.
The government estimates that restoring the replaced parts alone would cost $24,600; if all 46 computers were to be replaced, the cost would be approximately $105,800, not including additional expenses for reconfiguration for government use.
Liu appeared in court in Bangor on September 10 before Federal Judge John C. Nivison. The judge ruled against granting bail, awaiting a subsequent detention hearing; Liu waived his preliminary hearing but requested a separate hearing on the government’s motion for detention.
In the detention request documents, prosecutor Chris Ruge pointed out that Liu had been frequently traveling internationally in recent years and had “obvious overseas connections and sufficient resources to escape.” The prosecution also noted that even with electronic monitoring, there is a significant risk of him fleeing the jurisdiction due to his residence being near the Canadian border.