FORT WORTH TEXAS COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM ORGANIZATION Star Telegram | 02/25/2004 | Burglars ransack HabitatPosted on Wed, Feb. 25, 2004
Burglars ransack Habitat

By Deanna Boyd

Star-Telegram Staff Writer


FORT WORTH - Police are searching for burglars who broke into the Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity offices, damaging and stealing several computers and leaving the nonprofit agency with about $50,000 in losses.

The burglars apparently got into the building in the 3300 block of South Jones Street late Sunday or early Monday by ramming a vehicle into an attached garage, buckling it enough to gain entry, officer M.C. Haley said.

Haley said the burglars are also suspected of trying to break into two other nearby facilities -- one an empty building and the other a machine shop, both in the 3200 block of South Jones Street.

Habitat for Humanity makes homeownership affordable for low-income, working families by buying land and providing volunteer labor and donations of funds and materials to build the houses. Owners can buy their houses with a no-interest mortgage in which monthly house payments go to a revolving fund where the money can be reinvested in future Habitat houses.

Gail Ryan, executive director of the Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity, said the thieves rifled through offices and desks, cutting computer wires and making off with components from about 10 computers.

"They took the checkbook. They jimmied open drawers that were locked. They jimmied open offices that were locked," Ryan said. "They just really ransacked the place."

Haley said it appears that the burglars struck between 11 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, when an employee arrived at the business and discovered the theft.

"I personally believe there was more than one person involved because of the extent of damage and the amount of equipment taken," Haley said. "I think they were just looking for anything they could possibly remove from the building."

Although the break-in triggered the building's alarm system, police were not alerted apparently because of a system malfunction, Habitat officials said.

Ryan said some of the stolen computers had been donated to the agency by Texas Christian University, while others were bought through raised money.

"On my desk, I don't have anything," she said. "They took the computer, the CPU, the mouse, the keyboard -- the whole thing. Others, they just took the monitor but maybe they cut the wires to other components of the computer. So it's not just the hardware; it's all the technicians that are going to have to put it all together again."

Ryan said the agency has insurance, but replacement costs for the computers and the damaged doors will likely exceed those reimbursements.

"There's no price tag you can put on it," she said. "It doesn't account for the loss of time, the frustration and all the things we've had to do."

Ryan said the burglary may have a detrimental effect.

"It's a pretty big operation to build 30 to 35 houses a year," she said. "It's just going to be a big thing for us to overcome. It won't delay [building] the next house but it just might affect the number of houses we build total."