No leads in ASPSU theft case

No progress has been made in the search for $1,500 of electronic equipment and the culprit who stole it from the ASPSU office in mid-August.

Lieutenant Craig Whitten of PSU Campus Public Safety said that there have been no leads on the case in an e-mail message last Thursday. James Mazzocco, communications director of the ASPSU, said that the Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) has not decided whether or not they will replace the electronics.

PSU insurance will not cover the stolen items. The state of Oregon has a $2,500 deductible for lost or stolen claims, according to Dee Wendler, vice president for finance and controller at PSU.

Even if the electronic equipment were eligible for coverage, Wendler said in an e-mail message Thursday, the $1,500 value of the equipment would be less than the deductible.

Student body president Rudy Soto reported a projector, a digital camera and a camcorder—totaling $1,588 in electronics—missing on Aug. 15. The electronics were last accounted for on Aug. 13 before 6 p.m., according to the PSU Campus Safety incident report.

The electronics were purchased just over a month earlier as part of a $5,000 ASPSU office remodel. The devices, which ASPSU staff members planned to use for events and activities, were stored in cabinets on the north side of the office, room 117 in Smith Memorial Student Union.

Mazzocco said in late August that the 10 members of ASPSU’s executive staff are the only students with access to the office and cabinets. Campus Public Safety and custodians have access to all of the locked offices on campus, including the ASPSU office.

The office and cabinets remain locked outside of office hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), unless executive staff members are in the office. The office door and cabinets are unlocked during all of the office hours and any time an ASPSU executive staff member is in the office, Mazzocco said.

“Somebody is always here during office hours,” he said.

The incident report says that the cabinet was unlocked when the electronics were taken. Mazzocco said he believes that there is never a time when the office is left unlocked and unattended by an executive staff member.

Lieutenant Whitten said there were no signs of forced entry into the office. He said it is possible that someone took the electronics when the ASPSU office was unlocked.

The electronics had just arrived in the office and had not been unpacked from the boxes they were shipped in, according to the incident report. There is no record of serial numbers for the electronics because the boxes were stolen along with the electronics.

If anyone has information on the location of the stolen equipment, Mazzocco said to contact him at 503-725-5676 or [email protected]. He said that if someone does return the electronics, there would be no questions asked.
Mazzocco said incidents like this are hard to prevent.

“I mean, you know this campus,” he said. “If it’s not nailed down and it fits in a bag, it’ll disappear.”

An InFocus Multimedia Projector ($1,029), a Panasonic Palmcorde Camcorder ($429) and a Soy Cybershot Digital Camera, Model S650 ($130) were the electronics stolen. The case is still open.