Computer thefts leave university police searching for suspect
A string of strange incidents involving stolen laptop computers on campus during the past two weeks have university police asking students and faculty to help in the case.
Two laptops came up missing from different buildings on campus; one of the computers has since been recovered. Utah State University Campus Police Lt. Steve Milne said there has been a wave of suspicious activity coinciding with the theft of the computers that is of concern.
Last week, a number of doors on the third floor of the Eccles Jones Education Building were found propped open, Milne said. Nothing was reported stolen from the rooms.
On Oct. 23, a silver Dell Latitude laptop computer was reported stolen from the Merrill Library. The laptop was taken from an office that officials say was locked.
Police received a report on Saturday night from a professor in the Education Building who was walking to his office and saw an individual wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and gloves coming out of his office.
Milne said the professor asked the individual why he was wearing gloves, to which the man replied that it was cold outside.
When the professor walked into his office he noticed something was not right.
“The professor walked into his office and found that four out of the five cables attached to his laptop had been unhooked,” Milne said.
Police then received a report on Monday morning from a professor who has an office in the Ray B. West Building. The professor said he walked into his office Sunday night and found a man underneath his desk. Milne said the professor asked the individual what he was doing and the man said he was waiting for a professor. Milne said the name the man gave was a fictitious name.
Nothing was reported stolen in the Sunday incident, but underneath the professor’s desk was a laptop.
The most recent of the suspicious incidents, Milne said, was Tuesday when a professor in the Agricultural Science Building placed a briefcase containing a laptop on his desk, left the room for a short time and returned to find his briefcase missing.
The laptop stolen in the Tuesday incident was later found in the bathroom of another building on campus, but the briefcase is still missing, Milne said.
Milne said the description of the man in the Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday incidents are all similar. Police are searching for a man six feet tall, about 170 pounds with a thin build and blond hair, possibly worn in a spiky hairstyle.
“We want professors to be aware and make sure things are secure and locked up,” Milne said. “[Laptops are] pretty quick and simple to remove and conceal.”
Anyone with any information regarding any of the incidents is encouraged to contact campus police at 797-1939.
“If anybody sees anybody suspicious wandering, please give us a call,” Milne said.
-str@cc.usu.edu