Petulant professor returns damaged laptop

A UA employee reported on Thursday morning that his laptop was intentionally damaged by a former UA professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering building.

A University of Arizona Police Department officer went to the building to speak to the employee, who worked within the Information Technology department. He said that he received a laptop computer from a former UA professor in the mail. When he opened it, he found that all the ports in the computer were damaged beyond repair. The officer inspected this damage and noticed some bent pins and broken wafers inside of the USB ports, Ethernet, power supply and other ports. All of this appeared to have been caused intentionally with a screwdriver. The exterior of the laptop was not damaged other than slight scratches on the bottom left of the keyboard. The value of the laptop is estimated to be $1,799.

The officer contacted the former professor over the telephone and asked him about the damage done to the laptop. He said that he was asked by UA’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department to return the laptop because he had taken a chair professor position at another university that he was now working for. The professor stated that he mailed the laptop as requested and said he had no knowledge of the damage. The officer was unable to determine that he had caused the damage to the laptop or to find a motive as to why he would damage the laptop.

The UA’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is pursuing an insurance claim through Federal Express.

Stalker follows woman and friends, then flees

A man who had no affiliation with the UA harassed a student on Thursday at the Main Library. The man left by the time a UAPD officer arrived.

That day, at 3:30 p.m., an officer was dispatched to the UA Main Library to look for a man after receiving a report about him. The man was following a woman and her friends, even though he had previously been warned by UAPD not to follow her. As soon as the man noticed she had seen him, he left the scene running.

The woman reported that the man was following her and her friends as they went to the library. Police were unable to locate him. She told the officer that the man is a friend of her friend, and is obsessed with her. She also said he had approached her and her friends on multiple occasions and made derogatory comments about their skin color and ethnicity.

The officer attempted to contact the man to let him know that next time he does this, he would be subject to arrest for harassment. The officer called his phone number and left a message, and the man later called back. The man quickly told the officer he had the wrong number and hung up without giving him time to respond.

The officer advised the woman to call the police immediately if she sees this man again. The student did not wish to prosecute.

Thief left cable lock at library

A man reported that his bicycle was stolen from the Main Library on Thursday, between 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

A UAPD officer contacted the man over the telephone about his stolen property. He said his bicycle was stolen after he had locked it up using a cable lock. The bicycle is described as olive green and worth about $1,100. The cable lock was left at the scene.

Stereo stolen from Sixth Street garage

Between 10 a.m. on Wednesday and 10 p.m. on Thursday, someone broke into a UA student’s car. His vehicle had been parked on the fifth level of the Sixth Street Parking Garage.

A UAPD officer responded to the parking garage on Thursday at 10:20 p.m. and met with the student. The student said that he parked his car there a day ago, and when he returned he noticed his driver’s side door lock had been tampered with.

The student noticed his Pioneer car stereo and his garage pass were stolen. He did not know the serial number of his stereo. There were no other items missing. The student said he tried to turn on his car, but the transmission would not go into gear. The ignition did not appear to be tampered with, according to the officer.

The only damage to the vehicle was to the lock. The officer did not attempt to lift fingerprints because of the visible smudges on the door handles and because the student had already gone through the car to look for any missing items. The student said he would make arrangements to have his vehicle towed for repairs.