Bits and bytes missing from USC Upstate

By Cindy Landrum  

FEBRUARY 14, 2010 12:28 p.m. (1)

University of South Carolina Upstate has two or three “persons of interest” in a string of classroom computer thefts that began in August.

USC Upstate Police Chief Klay Peterson said while authorities have identified the persons of interest, he’s not ready to name them suspects or to say arrests in the case are imminent.

Police believe the thefts are an inside job.

“We believe they are members of our campus community because they know too much about the operation of the university to be someone on the outside,” Peterson said. “They know where the cameras are located, when class times are.”

Fifty-eight computers, mostly from classrooms and computer labs, have been stolen, the police chief said. The value of the stolen computers is about $38,000.

Peterson said the thefts began in August and continued in October, November and December.

Things quieted down in January and then a dozen computers were discovered missing earlier this week.

Campus police have installed additional security cameras, reassigned parking officers to patrol and are using student police cadets to patrol buildings.

The university’s information technology department installed a computer tracing program that detects a stolen computer’s whereabouts when it is hooked up to the Internet, Peterson said. Those have not led to any of the stolen equipment, leading police to believe the computers are being sold for parts or being shipped to Europe for use as word processors and movie viewers.

“The thief has been very lucky. He’s very good,” Peterson said. “But we feel very strongly the luck is going to run out.”

Peterson said authorities have been urging faculty members to be more vigilant about locking doors.

He said anybody with information about the thefts can call (864) 503-5271 or use the campus’ anonymous online crime reporting form by clicking here.

Comments

Add New

newsjunkie   |2010-02-15 06:00:58 This is simply amazing. One or two computers understandable. But 58? Reply

Leave a Comment
Comments are moderated and may not be posted immediately.
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."