Owed wages are a completely separate transaction, depending on the verbal or printed hiring policies unilaterally entered into by the employer at the time of hiring, and as modified thereafter. Allowing back wages to accumulate is merely a risky undertaking by both parties, both subjected to loss at the point of baskruptcy. Probably, documented loss of owed wages can be claimed as deductions on the employees federal and state income taxes, not as income, but as tangible losses against any other income sources. See a tax lawyer on that.
Any property in the possession of the employee is due back to the employer immediately, and is a separate matter from the owed wages.
Keeping the property without immediate return after notification to do so could be seen as theft, maybe not just as petty larceny, depending on the value of the asset. If it were an auto, that could be grand larceny. The actual street value will be far less than the book value that will be the amount owed the company if it is not returned. No computer is worth this possible tangle with the law on it. Using company property, even the employees time to make a telephone call for personal purposes, is something no employer would countenance and is a form of theft by the employee.
(Speaking not as a lawyer or Personnel manager, but having been on both sides of the issue for many years, as an experienced opinion. Offered only as sound advice.)
Thank you for the info!